MIDDLETOWN – A local man was the victim of a fatal Friday morning crash near Middletown.

The 47-year-old Lower Lake resident died at the scene of the solo-vehicle collision, which occurred on Butts Canyon Road a mile and a half east of Highway 29, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The man's identity was not released Friday by the CHP or the coroner's office pending family notification.

Just a few minutes before 7 a.m. the man was driving his 2008 Ford Edge westbound on Butts Canyon Road at an unknown speed when, according to the CHP report, he allowed his vehicle to drift off the road's south edge.

When the car went off the road it overturned and hit a utility pole, the CHP said.

The driver, pronounced dead at the scene, was wearing his seat belt and the vehicle's airbag had deployed, according to the CHP report.

CHP Officer Steve Curtis is leading the crash investigation, the agency reported.

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