ABC19980106.1830.0029.sgm

ABC19980106.1830.0029
NEWS STORY






Good evening. For the second time1 in a week, a widely recognized American
figure3
has died when he3 was skiing and ran into a tree. Congressman Sonny
Bono5
was first a songwriter5 in the nineteen sixties and then5 a popular entertainer5.
He3 was serving his3 second term in Congress when he3 died late yesterday at a
ski11 resort12 on the border between California14 and15 Nevada16.
First, we16 go to Jane
Clayson
, who has the details of the accident19.



Sonny Bono20 was on a family vacation at the Heavenly Ski Resort when the
accident19
happened. Early yesterday afternoon, the sixty two year old congressman28
left his28 wife29 and15 two young daughters at the top of the mountain32 and
started down the slope alone. At some point, he28 veered off into this wooded area35,
lost control and slammed into a tree, going twenty to38 thirty miles per hour. Bono41
died instantly.


His41 death was caused by massive head injuries due to blunt force45 trauma.


His41 wife29 reported him41 missing as the lifts were closing for the day, and
two hours later, the ski11 patrol found his41 body, twenty five feet from the groomed trail54
in an area that was not off limits.



It54's very common for those uh for skiers to go into that wooded area35, go in
and out of it5445
um. It54's not uncommon whatsoever. So it54's part54 of the run, if
you45 will.


Sonny Bono20 was an advanced skier20 on an intermediate run, the Orion trail54.
And he20 was familiar with this popular South Lake Tahoe62 resort12, having skied
at Heavenly for more than twenty years.
No one saw the accident19, but conditions on the mountain32 were clear at the
time1.
Initial autopsy reports indicate Bono41 was not under the influence of
alcohol
or any other substance.
It just appears this74 was a horrible
accident74.
Jane Clayson, ABC News, South Lake Tahoe62, California.