The old post office building of Marbleton, Wyoming, now sits at the Sublette County dump after a 17-year-old boy destroyed it with one high-speed turn of a truck towing a fifth-wheel gooseneck trailer.
The teen, 17-year-old Connor Hanson, picked the worst possible vehicle to attempt a 90-degree turn at 64 mph and survived almost by a miracle, said Tim Thompson, owner of the now-ruined building.
“That kid’s the luckiest kid in Sublette County to be alive,” Thompson told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “The only un-tooth-picked spot in the cab of the pickup was where that little (expletive) was sitting.”
Court documents say Hanson stole an Eiden Construction truck that was left unlocked with its keys in it overnight June 10 or 11, and drove around for a while. He told police he visited the cemetery to mourn a family member.
Just after 3 a.m., Sublette County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Hatch spotted the truck while on patrol on U.S. Highway 189, says an affidavit in the case. The gooseneck trailer hooked to the truck didn’t have running lights on it, so Hatch flipped on his emergency lights to stop it, reportedly.
The driver sped up, reaching 65 mph in the 35 mph zone, then tried to crank a lefthand turn onto West 3rd Street, but failed and smashed into Thompson’s building off to the right, the document says.
Hanson appeared dazed but was uninjured, investigators noted.
Thompson described the scene in more detail, saying the truck must have hit the curb and launched airborne until its rear tires hit the sidewalk. Its front tires left a 4-inch groove in the ground and a black streak through the building when they came back down, cranked leftward.
There were three two-by-four planks stuffed through the windshield, all splintered, plus one jutting through the dash and two sticking up through the floorboard, Thompson said, based on his recollection from arriving on scene after the wreck.
“If I’d have found out that kid was all right, I’d have handcuffed him to the steering wheel and had him sit in there ’til found out how lucky he was,” Thompson said.
It’s a blessing the teen didn’t have a passenger, Thompson added. The passenger would have been mangled.
Cowboy State Daily left a Thursday voicemail on the phone listed in Hanson’s court file, which leads to his mother’s voicemail. The family did not immediately respond to the voicemail.
Wrong Vehicle
Seller’s Real Estate sat within Thompson’s building, and the business lost years of important paperwork, Thompson said.
Terri Seller, the company’s owner, did not immediately respond to a Cowboy State Daily voicemail Thursday. Nor did Galen Eiden, the owner of the construction truck.
Thompson and others had to shore up the building to get the truck out so the building didn’t collapse during the process, Thompson said. They raised up the trusses off the frame of the trailer, unhooked the trailer and “just skidded it out from underneath the building” with a mini excavator.
Then they pulled the truck out in the same fashion. The truck’s wheels were still turned leftward.
“Like he was gonna try to make that 90-degree turn at 64 mph with a 2-ton truck with a tandem-axle, fifth-wheel gooseneck trailer hooked to it?” said Thompson. “The only thing bigger you could’ve gotten was a semi.”
It was the wrong vehicle for a getaway, he said, adding that the truck obliterated some big rocks that sat in front of the building, "Like a dandelion after it had gone to seed.”
The aftermath of a large truck towing a gooseneck trailer that crashed through the old post office building in Marbleton, Wyoming. (Courtesy Tim Thompson) 
The aftermath of a large truck towing a gooseneck trailer that crashed through the old post office building in Marbleton, Wyoming. (Courtesy Tim Thompson) 
The aftermath of a large truck towing a gooseneck trailer that crashed through the old post office building in Marbleton, Wyoming. (Courtesy Tim Thompson)
At The Dump Now
Thompson and others had the building stripped and hauled away to the dump within four days, he said. They salvaged the roof, tin and some usable lumber, as well as the old post office sign from when Thompson’s family still hosted the U.S. Postal Service in that building prior to the 1990s.
Thompson’s parents bought the building either from his grandparents or from another old builder in town, he said. And it was well-built.
Thompson voiced some disappointment, saying he wished someone from the town of Marbleton or from the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office had come to help in any way. Later, he indicated town workers may have helped keep passersby out of the dangerous scene, or sheriff’s personnel could have helped control traffic on the busy street corner during the demolition and dump runs.
The Sublette County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on these statements.
Marbleton Mayor Jim Robinson did not immediately respond to a Thursday voicemail requesting comment.
Cannibalizing Insurance Companies
Thompson said it’s a shame to watch his insurance company and Eiden’s trying to “cannibalize each other” over the crash. He said he’s known Eiden since grade school.
He said he doubts authorities can get any restitution out of Hanson.
“I wish that kid would’ve picked a little better, different corner,” Thompson said.
Case Ongoing
Hanson’s case is ongoing in Sublette County District Court. He faces one count of felony theft and two counts of property destruction, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, plus one count of aggravated fleeing, punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
He reportedly told police on scene that he wasn’t using drugs or alcohol, and that he’d been struggling with grief over deceased family members and other tragedies in the family.
He said he was headed to put the truck back, but doesn’t know how to back in a vehicle yet so he planned to park it sideways and leave the keys in the truck, the affidavit says.
But when he saw Hatch, he assumed he was “caught” and took off, says the document.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
