Man, 96, Dies After Vehicle Plunges Over Embankment on St. Croix

A 96-year-old man has died following a vehicle crash on St. Croix in which his sport utility vehicle went over an embankment in the Salt River area and flipped onto its roof.

Donn B. Schindler was operating a white Kia Sorento when the incident occurred at approximately 8:11 p.m. on October 19, according to the Virgin Islands Police Department. Officers from the Traffic Investigation Bureau responded after the 911 Emergency Call Center received a report that a vehicle had gone over a cliff in the area.

Preliminary investigation findings show that Schindler was traveling northeast along a downward slope when he lost command of the vehicle, causing it to leave the roadway and overturn. The SUV came to rest on its roof at the base of the embankment. Schindler suffered severe head injuries in the collision and subsequently died, though police have not disclosed the time or location of his death.

The circumstances leading to the loss of vehicle control remain under active investigation by the Traffic Investigation Bureau. His next of kin confirmed his identity.

The fatal crash marks the second deadly traffic incident on the island within a 48-hour window. Two days earlier, on October 17, a 22-year-old woman, Jeralys M. Guzman, was killed in a collision between her Toyota RAV4 and an Acura near the Estate Castle Burke intersection. That crash left a front-seat passenger in the RAV4 in critical condition, while the two occupants of the Acura sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.