A fatal crash outside Green River that killed two people Wednesday happened when a semitruck failed to navigate a curve and collided with a Honda Odyssey, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reports.
Both people who died were inside the Odyssey. A third occupant of the Odyssey, a passenger vehicle, has been hospitalized, Sweetwater County Coroner Dale Majhanovich confirmed Thursday to Cowboy State Daily.
Majhanovich publicly identified the two who died as Jeffrey Wilson, 47, and Kathrine Franklin, 32, both of Green River.
The Odyssey was heading south on Wyoming Highway 372, the Peru Cutoff road area, approaching a sharp left curve, says a narrative the Wyoming Highway Patrol released Thursday.
Majhanovich said he believes Wilson was driving the Odyssey.
A Volvo truck tractor pulling an enclosed semitrailer was headed west approaching the same curve, but failed to negotiate it and crashed into the Odyssey’s passenger side “broadside,” WHP’s narrative says.
The Volvo traveled straight into the dirt parking area outside the curve, with the Honda still in front of it.
A fourth person, presumably the truck driver, was listed as “non-injured” in the report.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Roascio told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday night that the scene was being processed as a crime scene.
Speed and inattention are being investigated as factors, says the WHP incident page.
Same Thing Goes For The Tunnels
The county’s top prosecutor, Sweetwater County Attorney Danny Erramouspe, said he’s waiting for a final report and crash reconstruction review from WHP before making any charging decisions.
“Sometimes these things take a while; to download information from the trucks — do a complete reconstruction,” said Erramouspe, adding that he prefers to have all the data before making charging decisions.
“Same thing goes for the tunnel accident,” he added.
A crash last Friday involving 26 vehicles, three fatalities and multiple injuries has shut down the westbound tunnel outside Green River indefinitely.
Authorities routed the extra 18,000 vehicles from the interstate through the town of Green River until Thursday, when they opened the east-bound tunnel for two-way traffic.
WHP said Wednesday that that evening’s two-fatality crash happened far from the detour.
Several locals writing to Cowboy State Daily after the story published bristled, saying the tunnel closure could, however, still have influenced congestion in the Peru cutoff area.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
