Idaho: 'Freak accident' near Island Park injuries three

A collision initially involving a deer led to a four-vehicle crash off U.S. Highway 20 near the Howard Springs turnout north of Island Park at the Idaho-Montana border Sunday. It sent three people to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

Rance Dye, 39, of Island Park, and Fremont County Deputy Joe Powell, 39, were taken by air ambulance to EIRMC, and a male juvenile passenger in Dye's vehicle was taken to EIRMC by ground ambulance.

The juvenile passenger was Dye's son and he has been released from the hospital. Dye underwent surgery Monday morning at EIRMC. Deputy Powell suffered broken bones but is in good condition, according to Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries.

According to Idaho State Police, two Fremont County deputies were investigating a vehicle versus a deer crash in the turnout at about 9:25 p.m. Sunday. They were assisting a tow company with loading the damaged vehicle onto a tow truck. The vehicle and the deer involved had been removed from the highway and were located in the parking lot of the turnout rest area, according to Sheriff Humphries.

Jacob Laird, 27, of Boise, was traveling eastbound in a 2008 Subaru Tribeca and as Laird's vehicle approached the crash scene, he lost control of his vehicle and drove into the rest area parking lot where it collided with one of the deputies' vehicles, a 2012 Ford Expedition.

The Ford Expedition then struck a 2008 GMC Sierra parked on the left side of it. It also struck the other deputy's vehicle, a 2012 Ford Expedition, parked on the right side of it. The deputies' vehicles and the GMC Sierra were all unoccupied at the time of the crash.

Dye, the driver of the GMC Sierra, and one of the Fremont County Sheriff's deputies were standing outside of their vehicles and were injured when struck by the Ford Expedition. The juvenile was also standing outside Dye's vehicle.

“They were all off the highway and in the parking lot of the rest area,” Sheriff Humphries said. “It was just a freak accident.” The crash remains under investigation by Idaho State Police