A 43-year-old Douglas, Wyoming, man is accused of causing a drunken head-on collision that killed a 14-year-old child and seriously injured a woman and a 6-year-old child on a state highway Sunday evening.
Wesley Kersey was driving a 2017 Chevy 3500 truck westbound on Wyoming Highway 91, west of Douglas, according to a Wyoming Highway Patrol statement dispatched Wednesday afternoon.
The Chevy crossed the center line and collided head-on with a 2017 Ford Edge that had been traveling eastbound, the statement says.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol fatality narrative says the driver of the Ford Edge, 32-year-old Douglas woman Justine Crouch, swerved toward the oncoming lane because the Chevy was in her lane, but the two vehicles collided head-on, forcing the Edge off the road into a spin.
The Edge rolled down the embankment and came to an uncontrolled stop in an upright position, says the narrative.
Crouch was hurt and taken by air ambulance to Denver, reportedly.
A 6-year-old child who’d been in a back driver’s side car seat in the Edge was injured and also life-flighted, the statement says.
Died On Scene
But a 14-year-old in the front passenger seat reportedly died on scene, the WHP reports.
Kersey refused medical treatment at the scene, the statement says.
An evidentiary affidavit filed this week in a criminal case against him in Douglas Circuit Court says Kersey also refused to answer questions about the crash while on scene, he refused to perform field sobriety tests, and he smelled of alcohol.
He reported no injuries and was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, the affidavit says.
Converse County Deputy Attorney Nathan Shumway charged Kersey with one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The prosecutor also charged Kersey with two counts of aggravated DUI (punishable by up to 10 years in prison each) and two counts of aggravated vehicular assault (punishable by up to 10 years in prison each).
In Wyoming so far this year there have been 37 fatal crashes accounting for 40 fatalities, the WHP reports. At this time last year, there had been 52 fatal crashes comprising 66 fatalities.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
