Staunton man charged with DUI

By Cleve Wiese

Published: May 23, 2008

Police charged a Staunton man with driving under the influence Friday in a three-car crash near Stuarts Draft that sent a woman to the University of Virginia Medical Center with serious facial trauma.
Jeremy Rasnake, 21, of Staunton, was driving a blue 1988 Ford Bronco north on Route 340 between Old White Hill Road and Kill Deer Lane at around 7:20 a.m. when he dozed off and his vehicle drifted across the center line, colliding head-on with a silver 1994 Ford Thunderbird, Virginia State Police Sgt. Frank Pyanoe said.
After rescue workers extracted the driver of the Thunderbird, Cheryl Lynn Sheaves, 40, of Grottoes, from the vehicle, she was flown to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. She was in surgical intensive care Friday evening, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The Bronco rolled over and slammed roof-first into a tree, spinning nearly 360 degrees before coming to a rest on its side, Pyanoe said. The Thunderbird careened off the right side of the road into a shallow ditch.
Carl Simmons, 44, of Glasgow, driving south in a green, 1999 Ford Escort, swerved his car off the right side of the road in an attempt to avoid the wreckage, swiped a tree and rear-ended the Thunderbird, Pyanoe said.
Rasnake and Simmons both were transported to Augusta Medical Center with injuries and released later in the day, a nurse said.
Police on the scene of the accident were not initially aware that alcohol had been involved, but a state trooper later determined Rasnake was under the influence after interviewing him at the hospital, Pyanoe said. Rasnake has been charged with DUI, driving with a suspended license and driving without a seatbelt, Pyanoe said.