Branch-Impaled Colorado Man Was Able to Steer Car to Safety Before Succumbing to Fatal Injuries

(The Blaze/AP) A Colorado man who was killed when a 3-foot tree branch flew through his windshield and impaled him in the chest was able to steer the car to safety before losing consciousness.

The wife of 61-year-old James Baker-Jarvis told the Daily Camera that her husband was able to pull over to the roadside, saving her from any injury. Baker-Jarvis died later at a hospital.

“He loved to be outside,” Karen Baker-Jarvis said. “He was kind of a mountain man. He loved his theoretical work, but sometimes when he needed to wind down he would go into the mountains.”

Saturday's incident north of Boulder came as high winds swept through the Northern Rockies, forcing shutdowns along long stretches of highways and causing some 19,000 power failures throughout Colorado.

In Wyoming, two people were injured Saturday when debris blew off the roof of a Cheyenne Sam's Club store. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that at least five other people were treated for wind-related injuries.