Separate fatal crashes in Sublette County

Joy Ufford, jufford@pinedaleroundup.com
Posted 7/1/21

A local man riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle collided with a large tour bus of students last Friday afternoon on a dangerous curve north of the Hoback Rim.

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Separate fatal crashes in Sublette County

Posted

SUBLETTE COUNTY – A local man riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle collided with a large tour bus of students last Friday afternoon on a dangerous curve north of the Hoback Rim.

Holden Horgan, 30, of Big Piney, was riding his motorcycle northbound on Highway 191 around 3:30 p.m. on Friday, June 25, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Klief Guenther.

Horgan was entering the dangerous curve nicknamed “Potato Curve” where other vehicles have gone off the highway or collided with frequency numerous times in the past.

The leased coach bus carrying about 55 Missouri high school students was southbound, having left Jackson and on its way to Sidney, Nebraska, where they were traveling on to Columbus, Missouri, according to Guenther.

Horgan’s motorcycle had crossed over into the southbound lane into the curve and hit the bus, killing him instantly, Guenther said. He was not wearing a helmet; his rate of travel was likely a contributing factor.

No students were injured; the driver, Rocky Pennington of Missouri, suffered facial injuries when a cell phone holder hit his face.

Wyoming Highway Patrol, Sublette County deputies, emergency medical services and county fire battalions responded; one lane of Highway 191 was closed for about three hours, according to Guenther. The bus was drivable and eventually continued on to Pinedale with the students; it was parked at the Wyoming Highway Patrol office over the weekend.

The students waited several hours for another tour bus to arrive and in the meantime were treated to pizza from Old Stone’s, cold drinks from Ridley’s at American Legion Park and some down time at the Pinedale Aquatic Center, according to a post by the Sublette County Chamber of Commerce.

Fatal rollover

The previous Tuesday, June 22, two Texas fishermen were life-flighted from a ranch pasture off Horse Creek Road, according to Guenther.

The 2018 Dodge Ram 1500 was driven by Roy Brown, 74, while his friend and the truck’s owner Kenneth Prehoditch, 71, was riding as a passenger. The two were here on a fishing trip and traveling east toward Daniel when the driver apparently fell asleep, Guenther said.

The truck crossed the road and traveled into the borrow ditch, then vaulted off an approach and cartwheeled into an irrigated pasture where it came to rest on its top.

The two men were suspended upside-down in the truck when emergency responders arrived and stabilized the two men for a flight to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

Prehoditch died of his injuries there on Sunday, June 26. Brown received internal injuries and was cited for failure to maintain a single lane of travel, Guenther said.

The two deaths bring 2021’s number to three traffic-related fatalities in Sublette County.