Area police responded to three serious accidents on Monday, which left five people injured and two others dead. 

An adult male, whose name was not released, was injured in a rollover accident in the area of 4550 S. Fifth in Pocatello on Monday afternoon. 

Lt. Paul Manning with the Pocatello Police Department said the man apparently lost control of his vehicle due to a malfunction.

“(He told us) something had gone wrong with the steering,” Manning said, adding that a witness confirmed that the man’s vehicle suddenly veered off the roadway. 

The vehicle struck a pile of debris and a fence, rolling in the process, Manning said.

Steve Lenon, owner of the Rim Rock Bar and Grill, said it was his fence that the vehicle hit before stopping behind his business. 

“I heard a crash and could see the dust fly across the back yard,” Lenon said, adding that he and another man had been outside measuring horseshoe pits a few minutes before. 

The other man was still outside when the crash occurred and hollered at Lenon, telling him to call 911. 

Lenon said they stayed outside and talked to the victim until police arrived. 

“We wanted to keep him awake and make sure he was OK,” Lenon said, adding that the police arrived quickly and took over from there. “Hopefully he’s OK.”

The man, who is in his 50s, was transported to Portneuf Medical Center with possible back and side injuries, Manning said, adding that things could have been worse if the man hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt. 

“We’ve had so many rollovers the last few months (in which people were) ejected,” Manning said, adding that a seatbelt can help protect people from death or serious injury in a rollover accident. 

He reminds everyone to buckle up every time they get into a vehicle.

Idaho State Police responded to two fatal accidents on Monday. 

Utah resident Gordon Churchill, 67, was killed in a motorcycle accident in Caribou County shortly before 3 p.m. 

Police said Churchill was driving a 2005 Harley Davidson south on State Highway 34 near Wayan, when his motorcycle went off the side of the road and wrecked. 

Churchill was thrown from the vehicle in the process and died at the scene as a result of the injuries he sustained, police said, adding that Churchill was wearing a helmet when the accident occurred. 

Idaho State Police also responded to a fatal rollover on I-84, west of Burley on Monday morning. 

Police said Utah resident Britney Byrd, 28, was driving east in a 2007 Toyota Matrix when the vehicle went off the right side of the road. It hit the Kasota Road exit sign and overturned before stopping on the embankment south of the exit. 

Passenger Timothy Byrd, 31, also of Utah, was not wearing a seatbelt when the accident occurred and was ejected from the vehicle, police said. He was flown by air ambulance to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, but later died as a result of his injuries. 

The driver and three children, ages 4, 2 and 7 months, were transported by ground ambulance to Saint Luke’s Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls, police said, adding that all of them, excepting one child, were wearing seat belts. 

Britney Byrd was listed in good condition on Monday night, hospital officials said; they did not release the status of the minors. 

Click here to view a photo gallery of the crash on 5th Ave. in Pocatello.