Driver life-flighted after Friday crash

A multi-vehicle crash west of Cowley early Friday morning resulted in a person being life-flighted to a Billings hospital.

According to Wyoming Highway Patrol public information officer Aaron Brown, a call came in at 7:34 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11, reporting a crash three miles west of Cowley at mile marker 246 on U.S. Highway 310. 

According to the investigation, Brown said, a black BMW was traveling westbound when it crossed the center line and collided with the rear axle area on the second trailer of a semi pulling two belly dump trailers traveling eastbound. An S&L Industrial truck following the semi veered to the right to avoid the oncoming car and traveled through a fence and hit a power pole, knocking the pole down and causing power lines to fall onto the highway.

A Camaro trailing the trucks then got caught up in the power lines, which, according to Lovell Fire Chief Zach Blain, crossed the highway to the north at that point.

Brown said troopers responding to the crash communicated with Rocky Mountain Power to shut down the lines.

Meanwhile, the BMW continued west for a short distance and left the highway to the right, coming to rest in a borrow ditch. Members of the Lovell Volunteer Fire Department and North Big Horn Hospital EMTs worked for more than a half hour to extricate the driver from the vehicle, and she was later flown from the scene to St. Vincent Hospital in Billings.

As of Friday afternoon, Brown said the incident was still under investigation, and he was not at liberty to release the name of the driver of the BMW, who he did confirm was the only one of the four drivers involved to be injured in the collisions.