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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Eureka County Sheriff's deputy and his 9-year-old stepdaughter have died in a crash as the family drove south through eastern Nevada to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Michael Patrick Harter, 29, was driving too fast for the wet and snowy conditions when his Dodge Ram pickup lost control and veered into an oncoming semi-truck early Wednesday morning, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chelsea Stuenkel said Thursday.
Harter was driving south on State Route 318 near Ely on the two-lane road when the crash occurred shortly after 9 a.m., Stuenkel said.
His 32-year-old wife Shelly Harter, who was riding in the front passenger seat, survived the crash. Shelly Harter was first taken to a hospital in Ely before being airlifted in critical condition to UMC Trauma in Las Vegas, Stuenkel said.
Her daughter Haley Lynn Page, a student from Crescent Valley Elementary School, died at the scene.
Eureka County Sheriff Keith Logan II described Page as an "outstanding young lady who lit up the room with her smile, charm and quick wit." He said Page was survived by Shelly Harter and her father Brenden Page.
Logan said in a statement released early Thursday that Michael Harter had been a resident deputy sheriff in the county for four years after working as a reserve deputy sheriff with the Carson City Sheriff's Office. The former U.S. Marine was survived by his wife, Shelly, his parents, Karen and Scott Harter, and his sister, Heather Jacobsen, Logan said.
He said the family was driving south for the Thanksgiving holiday but didn't note their destination. "Our family and community is deeply saddened," Logan said in the statement.
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