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The Wyoming Patrol issued a media release on Monday, February 13, regarding the head-on crash that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th, approximately eight miles south of Pinedale on US 191 in which one person was killed, another injured, and two vehicles destroyed. The crash has been ruled a suicide. The collision happened about one mile south of the Pinedale Airport around 3:30 PM and involved one other vehicle. 35-year old Thayne Adams of Marbleton, Wyoming, was driving a 1996 Dodge Dakota pickup truck. The investigation has ruled that Adams, heading south from Pinedale, intentionally swerved his vehicle into the path of a northbound commercial vehicle. He was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene. The second victim, 48-year old driver Clayton McCarty of Pinedale, driving a 2005 Freightliner Tri-County Sanitation truck, was treated at Saint John’s Medical Center in Jackson and released.

Below is the report from Wyoming Highway Patrol:
NARRATIVE
A two vehicle head-on crash on US 191 on Wednesday has been ruled a suicide by the Sublette County Coroner. Witness statements and information gathered by Troopers about Thayne Adams’ prior state of mind just before the accident led investigators to focus on the suicide. Adams was southbound on US 191 just south of the Pinedale airport Thursday afternoon when he swerved his vehicle into the path of a northbound commercial vehicle. The two vehicles collided head-on in the northbound lane of travel. Adams’ vehicle went partially under the sanitation truck and then both vehicles were consumed by fire. McCarty was able to exit his vehicle prior to the fire.

The collision caused the closure of both southbound and northbound lanes of US 191 for approximately 1 hour. An intentional act by a person driving on the roadway that causes damage, bodily injury or death, cannot be counted as a traffic crash. Therefore, this accident will not be counted against the 2012 fatal traffic statistics.

Click on this link for a copy of the Wyoming Highway Patrol report (PDF)

Related Links One killed, one injured in collision on US 191 - By Sublette County Sheriff’s Office, February 9, 2012 Collision - Pinedale Online, February 8, 2012