Crash kills two in park
Law enforcement officials investigate the scene of an accident that killed two occupants of a Ford Focus after a head-on collision with a semi truck Monday on Highway 191 in Grand Teton Naional Park. The driver of the semi was not seriously injured. NEWS&GUIDE PHOTO / BRADLY J. BONERView our entire photo gallery >>
By Noah Brenner, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
June 24, 2008
Two people died Monday in a wreck on Highway 26/89/191 just south of the Albright scenic overlook in Grand Teton National Park.
The accident, reported at about 4:45 p.m., involved a white Ford Focus with Arizona license plates and a semi truck towing a car trailer. The car trailer was empty at the time of the accident.
Teton County Coroner Bob Campbell declared the victims, a man and a woman, dead at the scene.
Campbell had no further information on the ages or identities of the two victims. They were the only two passengers in the Focus.
The driver of the truck was not seriously injured but was taken by ambulance to St. John’s Medical Center for further evaluation, said Grand Teton National Park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs, who was on the scene.
The Focus was traveling south on Highway 89 and the semi was traveling north. Law enforcement from Wyoming Highway Patrol and the Teton County Sheriff’s Office continued their investigation Monday evening and had not determined exactly how the crash occurred.
Skaggs said the semi pushed the Focus about 100 feet north from where the crash happened.
The top of the white Focus was almost completely detached from the car and it appeared the passenger side received a significant part of the impact. The Focus came to rest in the sagebrush along the northbound lane not far from the roadway.
The semi’s trailer extended across both lanes of traffic, with the cab coming to rest in the sage along the southbound lane. The passenger side and front of the cab were severely damaged.
Both vehicles were upright and neither caught fire, Skaggs said.
It appeared the truck driver had applied his brakes before impact, Skaggs said.
Skaggs said the semi might have just dropped off rental cars at Jackson Hole Airport.
She did not believe the intersection at Moose Junction factored into the crash.
The accident closed Highway 89 between Gros Ventre Junction and Moose. It was not expected to open until about 9:30 p.m. Monday.
Law enforcement officials routed traffic through Kelly along Antelope Flats Road and Gros Ventre Road.