A routine Thursday morning drive turned deadly for an 80-year-old Wyoming man after a crash on US 26 in Goshen County.
According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, it happened just before 9:30 a.m. on July 24 near milepost 33 — right by the Pony Soldier RV Park between Lingle and Fort Laramie.
Troopers say Gerald Kruizinga was heading east in his Mercury Sable with a Ford F-150 behind him. As Kruizinga started turning left onto Road 23, the pickup driver tried to pass. The truck slammed into the Mercury’s back-left passenger door.
The impact spun Kruizinga’s car 180 degrees before it rolled backward into a ditch. The pickup also went off the road, rolled onto its side, and came to rest on the driver’s side.
Kruizinga, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, didn’t survive. The pickup driver was hurt, but the Patrol hasn’t said how badly.
Investigators list driver inattention as a possible cause.
This was Wyoming’s 70th fatal crash of the year, bringing the state’s traffic death toll to 78.
The original story by Joy Greenwald for KGAB AM 650.
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