Accident PNS #1

Field Trip Van Crash Kills Seven USU Students and Instructor
Danny Robinson

Earlier today on Interstate 84 west of Tremonton, a large passenger van carrying 10 Utah State University Agriculture students and their instructor, lost control, and rolled multiple times ejecting all passengers from the vehicle.

The group of students was on a field trip, as part of Ag week at Utah State. The van they were in was part of a caravan of vehicles traveling along I-84. Kyle Holden, a friend of many of the students and a former student of the instructor driving the van, was part of the caravan, driving his own personal vehicle. Kyle spoke to reporters at a press conference this morning. Kyle stated that he was driving along side of the van at the time of the accident. Kyle looked over at the instructor driving the van, he said “I saw smoke from the back area, his (the driver) face changed like he had to gain control”. He later added, “It looked like the tire exploded”. Kyle then described the van swerving out of control and rolling multiple times, throwing the students and instructor from the vehicle. “These were my friends”, Kyle said… “I can’t believe this is even happening,…It’s hard to talk about”.

The exact cause to the crash is still under investigation. Officer Jason Jensen of the Utah Highway Patrol, was patrolling Interstate 84, traveling only half a mile behind the van at the time of the crash, and was the first officer on scene. Officer Jensen described the condition of the van as “absolutely destroyed” when he arrived, with all passengers outside of the van having been ejected. All of the passengers were male. Officer Jensen called for medical personnel, and said that the medics arrived within 5 minutes. Two Life Flight units were dispatched to carry some of the passengers to Ogden Regional Hospital, while others were taken to a hospital in Brigham City. Officer Jensen told reporters that the local police department is currently investigating the crash, which could take a few months, with the federal investigation taking closer to a year.

Stan Albright, President of Utah State University also spoke at the press conference this morning. “This is a great tragedy four our University” President Albright said, “We are in the middle of contacting family”, of the students involved, stating also that the names of the students would all be released at the same time, as soon as all of the family were contacted. President Albright did however release the name of the driver of the van, as being Evan Parker an Agriculture department instructor, and that parker as well as seven of the students have been pronounced dead. Six of them were pronounced dead at the scene and two were said to be dead on arrival at the hospital, with the remaining three of the eleven passengers listed as being in critical condition. President Albright said that memorial services will be planned and held at the University.