Alcohol, Marijuana Use Caused Crash | Big Horn Basin Media

Alcohol, Marijuana Use Caused June 3 Crash

Written by on June 19, 2017

A combination of alcohol and marijuana use was behind a tragic crash that killed five people in Fremont County on June 3rd.
Fremont County Coroner Mark Stratmoen last week said the driver at fault in the head-on collision, 25-year-old Whitney SunRhodes, had a blood alcohol level of .164 percent – that’s over twice the legal limit of .08 percent for alcohol intoxication. Additionally, the tests showed she had a level of THC in her bloodstream that indicated she had been smoking marijuana within two hours before the crash.
SunRhodes was driving westbound on the 17 Mile Road when her vehicle crossed the center line and hit an eastbound vehicle head-on at 10:45 p.m. June 3. All of the occupants of the SunRhodes vehicle were killed and one of the occupants in the other vehicle died. None of those killed were wearing seat belts, although the airbags inflated in both vehicles.
The toxicology reports on the victims indicated that all four occupants of the SunRhodes vehicle were over the legal limit of alcohol consumption. The lone fatality in the second vehicle, 67 year old Betty Ridgely, was not wearing her seatbelt, but the driver and two other occupants of that vehicle were wearing their seatbelts, and are now recovering from their injuries.


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