Documents provide new details regarding Saturday’s fatality crash

LEMHI COUNTY — Court documents detail an incident Saturday night in Shoup that left one man dead and another facing 10 years in prison.

The Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash in Shoup on Panther Creek Road around 10 p.m., according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by EastIdahoNews.com. Deputies were informed that one person had been severely injured and was not breathing.

Garret Duncan, 21, of Jerome, was later arrested at the scene and has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.

RELATED | One man dead and one man arrested after crash in Lemhi County

Upon arrival, emergency personnel found 22-year-old Kolby Dawson Slagel, from Twin Falls, dead at the scene. Following an investigation, deputies learned that Slagel, one of four occupants in a 2008 Ford F350, was sitting in the window frame of the passenger seat, with his head and torso outside the vehicle at the time of the crash.

It was also determined that Duncan, the driver of the F350, was driving “at a speed too too fast for conditions.” Additionally, prior to the crash, Duncan was reportedly “engaged in reckless driving practices by driving erratically, drifting and spinning his tires in a residential area.”

While en route to the crash site, near Trail Creek, deputies were informed that Slagel was being transported by private vehicle toward an area hospital. An Air Methods helicopter was requested and provided with a landing site.

When deputies arrived at the determined Air Methods landing site, they found that Slagel and the transport vehicle had not yet arrived. Deputies continued toward the reported crash site and found the transport vehicle heading in their direction “at a high rate of speed.”

The vehicle, a black Ford F150, slowed near the deputy before re-accelerating. Deputies followed the F150, which was traveling at an estimated 80 mph in a posted 45-mph zone.

Due to the dangerous nature of traveling at those speeds in that area, deputies stopped pursuing the F150 and requested other emergency personnel clear the roadway.

“I was very concerned for the safety of responding personnel and the safety of the victim riding in the vehicle,” an officer wrote in the affidavit says.

Deputies eventually caught up to the F150, which had yielded to emergency rescue at a turnout near the intersection of Salmon River Road and Sage Creek. Responders were providing aid to Slagel, who was in the backseat of the truck’s cabin.

The affidavit notes serious injuries to his face and arms. It is also noted that when deputies arrived at the turnout, Slagel’s shirt had been lifted and marks from AED patches were left on his chest, but the wires were not connected.

Deputies provided Air Methods with new coordinates for a landing zone near the turnout.

The driver of the F150 told deputies that, after hearing the crash, he went to the scene, about seven miles from the Panther Creek Road-Salmon River Road intersection. He said that he picked up Slagel and was taking him to the hospital, and that the F350 was completely blocking the roadway at the crash site — and that at least two other people were still at the site.

An EMT informed deputies that Slagel was dead and that life-saving action was being terminated.

When they arrived at the crash scene, deputies found the F350 laying on its passenger side in the roadway. Police reports also note tire marks on an embankment alongside the road and fresh marks on a large pine tree.

Duncan was questioned by a deputy, He said that he and three passengers had been in the area looking for fishing spots for the next morning.

Asked if he’d requested Slagel sit in the passenger seat, rather than in the window frame, Duncan said he had but that Slagel had ignored that request. Duncan told the deputy that he had been wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

Duncan said that he was driving around 35 mph when he hit a “rough patch” of road and lost control of the truck.

Police reports note that the road appeared to be smooth near the crash site.

Duncan admitted to having consumed alcohol, according to the affidavit, but said he had not had any since around noon.

While investigating the scene, the deputy noted that the truck appeared to have fresh damage on the front bumper, consistent with having a head-on collision with the pine tree. The deputy also found dirt and foliage from the embankment wedged into the front bumper on the front passenger-side rim of the truck.

The deputy also found what they believed to be blood and flesh on the passenger-side corner of the front windshield.

The deputy also found the roof of the truck’s cabin wet, as though something had spilled inside the truck. Getting close to the wet spot, the deputy noted that it smelled like alcohol.

After examining the scene, the deputy determined that the truck was traveling southbound on Panther Creek Road when it began to skid and lose control. The truck then struck the pine tree with enough force that it was flipped onto its side.

The deputy requested an accident reconstruction team from Idaho State Police at the scene.

The passengers also spoke with the deputy.

One passenger told the deputy that Duncan wanted to drive the pickup and that he was consuming alcohol all day. The passenger said everyone in the vehicle had been drinking while they traveled on Panther Creek Road. He said that Duncan hit a rock on the side of the road and that the vehicle flipped. Everyone was “freaking out,” he said, according to documents.

Slagel had been “hanging out of the front passenger window,” documents said. Slagel was conscious for at least 20 minutes after the collision, one of the passengers told the deputy.

The man in the F150 arrived and said that he could transport Slagel because Slagel was dying.

One of the passengers came with him and said the man was driving very fast while she was performing CPR on Slagel in the back of the vehicle. She told the deputy that she does not remember Duncan telling Slagel to sit down and not hang out of the vehicle.

One of the passengers told the deputy that empty alcohol containers had been cleaned up and moved away from the scene.

One of the passengers told the deputy that Duncan would drive and “come around a corner, slow down and then spin the tires,” the affidavit says.

The deputy then talked to Duncan again and Duncan admitted the he had not been wearing his seatbelt and that he had lied.

Duncan was given a breathalyzer, which returned a blood-alcohol content reading of 0.02. In Idaho, the legal limit is 0.08% — meaning Duncan was not legally impaired.

Asked why he did not stop the truck and force Slagel to sit in the seat, Duncan responded that he thought that was “a good idea now.”

The deputy established from the witness statements that Duncan had been engaged in reckless driving at a speed too fast for the conditions. At the time of the collision, the victim had been positioned outside of the moving vehicle. This directly led to his injury and ultimately resulted in his death, court documents said.

The felony charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Duncan is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 14 at 1:45 p.m. at the Lemhi County courthouse.

Though Duncan has been charged with this crime, it does not necessarily mean he committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.