Friday, August 28, 2009


NORTH DAKOTA: A teenager caused a head-on collision with a semi truck, killing the driver of the truck in the accident. A 16-year-old girl from Steele was driving north on the highway and made a left turn in front of the oncoming semi, causing a head-on collision. The driver of the truck, 59-year-old Gene Rusell Hogue, was pronounced dead at the scene.


WEST VIRGINIA: A 16-year-old died late Friday in a one-car accident. Talon Steadman was going around a turn in Bridgeport when he lost control of the Saturn he was driving and hit a tree. He suffered massive head trauma, was taken to a local hospital and then flown to a regional hospital, where he was declared dead. He was a junior at Bridgeport high school and a member of the football team.

UPATE: Talon was apparently texting when he died. He was driving 44 mph in a 35 mph zone, and never saw the three-foot tree he was about to crash into. He never applied his brakes before the accident, police say. 

About 2,000 people attended his funeral.

NEBRASKA: A 16-year-old passenger died after a two-car crash at an intersection in Elm Creek Friday afternoon. Police say cars driven by a 28-year-old and 17-year-old Braeden Stauffer collided at an intersection east of town. Bryce Russell, 17, of Elm Creek, died of his injuries at the hospital. Both drivers and another passenger in Stauffer's car were taken to the hospital.

More details available here from the Kearney Hub newspaper.