Emergency crews keep busy with I-90 crashes

WALLACE — It’s like how that old saying goes, “when it rains, it pours.”

Shoshone County emergency crews recently responded to three separate vehicle crashes on Interstate 90 in just over a 12-hour period.

According to Osburn Police Chief Darell Braaten, the first incident occurred Wednesday night at roughly 9:35 p.m. when a 69-year-old Pinehurst man with the last name of Wilson was traveling westbound on Interstate 90 in a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500. It was around milepost 62 that Wilson began swerving all over the road.

Nearby motorists on I-90 called in the erratic driving to the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and deputies were dispatched to the location.

SCSO deputies John Richter and Dameon Groves caught up to Wilson shortly after the report came in and attempted to pull the vehicle over while keeping other motorists out of harm’s way.

Around milepost 60, Wison’s vehicle entered the grassy swell that divides the Interstate and proceeded to enter the eastbound lanes of traffic while still traveling west. Deputy Groves then followed Wilson into the eastbound lanes.

“Deputy Groves attempted to get in front of the vehicle to slow it down,” Chief Braaten said. “When he did, the pickup truck with the camper rear ended Groves seconds before Wilson made contact head-on with the semi-truck.”

Groves was able to get out of the way at the last second and avoid any contact with the semi-truck.

The head-on collision at milepost 58.5 created a crash scene that blocked both lanes of traffic. Units from SCSO, the Osburn Police Department and the Pinehurst Police Department rushed to the area to help assess the situation and control traffic.

Emergency crews from Shoshone County Fire District No. 1 — who’s station is roughly 100 yards from the crash scene — also responded to treat any possible injuries.

SCFD No. 1 Lt. Victor Malsom states that both Wilson and the semi-truck driver, a Montana man with the last name of Young, suffered minor injuries as a result of the collision. Young was transported to Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg, as the crash may have aggravated a pre-existing neck injury.

With the help of crews from the Idaho Transportation Department, the roadway was cleared roughly two-and-a-half hours after the collision. While the cleanup was being conducted, eastbound traffic was rerouted through Osburn to Silver Valley Road.

Bratten explains that the cause for Wilson’s erratic driving is under investigation at this time.

After the incident, SCSO Lt. Jeff Lee praised the actions of deputy Groves.

“He drove into oncoming traffic with the erratic driver to help slow him and oncoming vehicles down,” Lt. Lee said. “His actions definitely slowed oncoming traffic and reduced the severity of the main collision between the elderly driver in his pickup and the semi.”

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Approximately an hour later, SCSO deputies responded to I-90 at milepost 59 again for a report of a vehicle off the roadway.

The driver, whose name was not released, left the roadway and crashed into the center grassy swell. The driver later admitted to emergency personnel that they were watching a YouTube video while driving and that’s what caused them to crash.

No injuries resulted from this incident.

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Idaho State Police reports that the final incident occurred Thursday morning on I-90 near Lookout Pass.

Around 10:52 a.m., Guy L. Lewellyn, 47, of Cheney, Wash., was driving a 2019 Freightliner semi-truck pulling a trailer at milepost 67 when he drove off the right shoulder and continued into the ditch for 348 feet. The semi re-entered the highway and tipped over, blocking both eastbound lanes and spilling its cargo of 40,000 pounds of apples.

Lewelllyn was transported by SCFD No. 1 to SMC with non-life threatening injuries.

Both eastbound lanes were blocked for approximately 1.5 hours. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.