Clarkdale Police Department responded to a fatal single-vehicle ATV rollover accident on Forest Service Road 493 in the Blowout Wash recreation area on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 1:40 p.m. A 15-year-old teen from Payson was pronounced dead at the scene. Another 15-year-old Payson occupant was transported by ambulance to Verde Valley Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries.
The accident is under investigation to determine what factors may have contribued to the accident. Drugs or alcohol are not suspected. The driver and passenger were not wearing helmets at the time of the accident.
As the victims were minors, Clarkdale Police is not releasing their names.
Verde Valley Fire District, Verde Valley Ambulance and Jerome police officers also responded.
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Contact Clarkdale Police Sgt. Joe Candelaria with questions or for additional information.
Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rocks News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been featured in Editor & Publisher magazine. He lectures on journalism and First Amendment law and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. Retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills, former director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs referred to him as "Mr. Slam Poet." In January 2025, the International Astronomical Union formally named asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) in his honor at the behest of Lowell Observatory, citing him as "an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."
