What was supposed to be a relaxing trip to Wyoming intensified quickly for three Logan residents last Friday after they came upon a young child caught under a rolled SUV.
According to Jaxsen Peterson, he and two friends — Kayden Degay and Eli Johnson — were passing through Idaho intent on an easy weekend in Star Valley.
“We were going up to my friend’s cabin,” Peterson said, “just to go hang out for the weekend at their place, and go fly fishing and just relax for the weekend.”
While navigating the slick twists of Emigration Canyon headed toward Montpelier, the three came upon an SUV that had recently rolled over off the road. An estimated 10 feet off the right-hand side, Peterson said they found a mother and two children.
“I was thinking that we were going to come up on some dead bodies for sure, but thank God that didn’t happen,” Peterson said.
While one child was pulled away from the crash and tended to by another passerby, Peterson said the woman’s young daughter was found inside the SUV. According to Peterson, the child’s leg was outside the car’s window caught between the vehicle and ground.
“We just decided that I would climb on top of the car and hop through the window,” Peterson said. “I could tell it was way too tight, and I wasn’t going to pull anything and make matters worse.”
Unable to locate a car jack, Peterson said his two friends, along with two other men who pulled over to help, were able to hoist the vehicle.
“They were able to lift the car enough to the point where her leg was free and I could pull her out and then lift her through the window and hand her to her mom,” Peterson said.
“Another guy pulled over and he loaded them up in his truck and rushed them to the emergency room… we sent someone down into town to call 911. But, I mean, at that point, we weren’t going to wait.”
According to Franklin County Sheriff David Fryar the accident occurred 14 miles from the Highway 34 junction. Luckily, none of the injuries sustained were life-threatening and the family was released shortly after receiving treatment, Fryar said.
“One of the kids, unfortunately, had gotten out of their car seat prior to the accident,” Fryar said, confirming the child had been pinned under the SUV and was rescued by a group of passersby. “But no (serious) injuries, no broken bones.”
Fryar said the mother had been traveling northeast in a 2003 Chevy Suburban when the SUV slid to the left, hit some kind of obstruction and rolled off the right side of the road. Fryar said the vehicle was traveling around 50 miles per hour at the time of the accident.
While there wasn’t a concrete explanation for the crash, Fryar said road conditions may have contributed.
Peterson indicated the road was icy and treacherous that day, though there was no visible snow on the road.
“I know that road was extremely slick,” Peterson said. “I almost fell over when I was walking in the road.”
Fryar said no other emergency personnel responded to the scene because the mother and two children were transported by a private vehicle. He estimated both children were under the age of 5, though their precise ages were unknown.
With a fair amount of accidents up Emigration Canyon, Fryar encouraged drivers to slow down to pay close attention to the multitude of blind turns.
“A lot of times, you can’t see; you don’t know what’s going on up the road a mile because it’s all turns,” Fryar said. “Just slow down a little bit and get a feel for what’s going on.”
Peterson said he and his friends were “in shock” for the remainder of their drive but sustained no injuries — though one had to remove some glass from his hand.
“We were just glad we were there and able to help,” Peterson said. “There was no fatalities. That was the biggest part … Luckily it turned out the way that it did, because it could have been much worse.”
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