Four teenagers escaped serious injury after colliding with a semitruck head-on while trying to pass three other vehicles in a no-passing zone on Highway 59 about 30 miles south of Gillette on Sunday evening.
The four teens were all reportedly drinking underage at the time of the crash when they attempted, at a high rate of speed, to pass three other vehicles ahead of them on a double-yellow no-passing line, said Wyoming Highway Patrol spokesman Aaron Brown.
They were driving northbound at about mile marker 84 when a semitruck traveling south in its proper lane clipped the 2009 gray Chevy Impala, Brown said.
It was only because the semi driver swerved at the last second to avoid a straight-on collision with the passenger car that the four teens weren’t seriously injured, he said. Two juveniles were taken to a local hospital, where they were treated and released.
“That semi suddenly swerving probably saved their lives,” Brown said.
The 18-year-old driver, Trystin Smith of Gillette, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, the WHP reports. He was also cited for driving under suspension, careless driving, minor in possession of alcohol, and not wearing a seat belt.
There was one other 18-year-old in the car and two younger juveniles, Brown said.
The crash happened at about 8:20 p.m. Sunday, the WHP reports.
“Troopers found a Chevy Impala with four passengers was northbound when it went into the southbound lane to pass three vehicles in a no-passing zone,” the report says. “While attempted to pass, the car was struck in an offset head-on fashion by a semitruck.”
That sent the Impala back into the northbound lane, where it was hit again by a northbound semitruck.
The left tire and driver’s side door were sheared off by the offset head-on, and all the vehicle’s airbags deployed, Brown said.
Troopers also “discovered alcohol in the vehicle and that minors had been drinking alcohol,” the agency reports.
While it’s not reported how fast the Impala was going at the time, Brown said troopers believe “it was above highway speeds” because it was trying to pass multiple vehicles at the time.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
