1 Dead, 1 Injured After SUV Hits Cliff, Rolls on I-80 in Wyoming
One person was killed and another injured in a single-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 80 early Monday afternoon, the Wyoming Highway Patrol says.
It happened around 12:20 p.m. near milepost 124.7, about 20 miles east of Rock Springs.
According to a fatality crash summary, the driver of a Nissan Pathfinder was headed west when they failed to negotiate a slight, left-hand curve, drove straight off of the interstate, and hit a rock cliff face.
"The vehicle traveled up the cliff face in a side-swipe motion about six feet where it then rolled several times down the shoulder," the summary reads.
The crash left the driver injured and their passenger, 72-year-old Utah resident Dahlin Ackerman, who was wearing a seat belt, dead.
The summary lists driver inattention and driver fatigue/asleep as possible contributing factors.
This is the 77th fatality on Wyoming's highways in 2023 compared to 62 in 2022, 60 in 2021, 64 in 2020, and 96 in 2019 to date, and the 20th fatality on I-80 so far this year.