JARED MILLER Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Sunday, December 31, 2006 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Quick thinking by a driver in the March chain-reaction crash that killed six people on Interstate 80 likely saved at least one life, according to a report by the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
Randy Natter of North Ogden, Utah, stopped his Toyota pickup before it joined the pileup, and he fled on foot with the driver of a nearby tractor-trailer, Todd Munn of Ontario, Canada.
Moments later, a semitrailer driven by Larry Suttle of Otis, Kan., demolished Natter's pickup before embedding in Munn's trailer.
"It was horrendous," Munn, 40, later recalled.
The 27-page Highway Patrol report details the nightmarish chain-reaction crash near Elk Mountain. It lacks photographs, video and a more detailed account contained in the official investigation, said Capt. Perry Jones of the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
According to the report:
* A caravan of 22 vehicles - half of them tractor-trailers - was eastbound on I-80 when visibility shrunk to about 100 feet because of blowing snow. The caravan had just completed a 2 percent downgrade and was entering a gradual curve to the right when one of the lead vehicles began to slow.
* The driver of the subsequent big rig, Paul Newman of Annabella, Utah, applied the brakes. A vehicle never identified struck Newman's rig from behind, kicking off the chain-reaction.
* Moments later, a Chevy driven by Joseph Vrankovich of Sebastopol, Calif., smashed into a Chevy S-10 driven by Jean Renken of Bertrand, Neb., spinning the pickup into the median. Vrankovich then collided with Newman's truck.
* Just behind them, a semitrailer driven by Timothy Holmes of Sparks, Nev., applied the brakes, and his empty trailer slid into Berkovich's trailer, blocking both eastbound lanes.
* A Honda Civic driven by Patrick Guinn of Loveland, Colo., then smashed into Berkovich's trailer, and a big rig driven by Jonathan Petree of Crossville, Tenn., pushed Guinn's vehicle underneath Berkovich's trailer.
* Guinn exited his vehicle and was crushed when Petree's semitrailer slid along the side of Berkovich's trailer. Guinn died from his injuries.
* A semitrailer driven by Milan Caldwell of Nampa, Idaho, then struck a Mercury Sable driven by Laura Graves of Conifer, Colo., squarely on the passenger side, embedding the car in the truck's grille. The joined vehicles then plowed through several other vehicles before hitting Petree's trailer.
* Caldwell's truck forced Petree through the median, and Petree's truck rammed Renken's S-10 pickup in the driver's door.
* A tractor-trailer driven by Prescott Hayden of Decatur, Ga., then collided with Caldwell's truck, causing major damage to Caldwell's trailer and forcing the truck into a pronounced jackknife. The impact wasn't enough to stop Hayden's truck, however, and it slammed into Holmes' trailer, forcing it on top of the Graves' car. All four people in the car were killed.
* Next, a Ford Ranger driven by Tracy Patterson of Colorado Springs, Colo., crashed into the left rear drive tires of Petree's truck. A semitrailer driven by Viktor Kigilyuk of Portland, Ore., then jackknifed and collided with Petree's truck and Patterson's pickup.
* Three drivers, Vrankovich, Pedro Lopez of Guadalajara, Mexico, and Manuel Munoz-Cordero of Center, Colo., were able to stop near the end of the pileup. They left their cars and ran for safety.
* Meanwhile, a Dodge van driven by Jared Linden of Longmont, Colo., smacked into the rear of a Chevy truck driven by John Ilko III of Laramie as both vehicles slid into the median. Linden's van was then struck from behind by a Ford F-250 pickup driven by Harold Bagley Jr. of Longmont, Colo.
* Munn's semitrailer collided with Kigilyuk's truck and came to rest in the eastbound lanes. A truck driven by Christopher Starz of Eagle River, Wis., collided with the right rear corner of Munn's trailer, killing Starz.
* Concluding the pileup, a semitrailer driven by Daniel Stanley of Alturas, Calif., slammed into the mass of vehicles, striking a tractor-trailer driven by Larry Suttle of Otis, Kan., a van driven by Lopez, a Honda Odyssey driven by Maunel Munoz-Cordero and vehicles driven by Starz, Kigilyuk and Vrankovich. Starz's truck was forced into Vrankovich's trailer, which overturned. Lumber from Stanley's flatbed scattered on the highway and damaged Munoz-Cordero's Honda.