JACKSON, WYOMING — The dump truck driver charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle in the July 7 Teton Pass crash that killed two men and injured several others has pleaded not guilty to both counts and is scheduled for a bond hearing on October 8.
Laiton George McMinn, 22, of Ririe, Idaho, was charged after Wyoming Highway Patrol investigators determined the crash was the result of driver error — not mechanical failure, as McMinn had claimed after the crash when he told troopers his brakes had failed.
What Happened
McMinn was driving a dump truck loaded with asphalt eastbound down Teton Pass on July 7 when he lost control descending the steep grade. What followed was a rapid chain reaction on Highway 22.
The runaway dump truck first rear-ended an eastbound motorcycle. The rider survived. The truck then rear-ended an eastbound Chevrolet pickup, forcing it into oncoming traffic where it collided head-on with a westbound Ford F-150. The F-150 overturned and went off the north side of the highway.
The dump truck then veered off the south side of the road, struck a guardrail, swerved back into the eastbound lane, spun out, and rolled onto its side — sliding down the highway and spilling asphalt across the road. While sliding it struck a westbound Chevrolet Equinox and then a westbound Subaru Outback. Both the Subaru and the truck hit a drainage ditch. The impact launched the dump truck airborne before it landed on its passenger side. The Subaru rolled repeatedly and came to rest on its roof.
Nicholas Besobrasow, 66, of Tetonia, Idaho, who was driving the Ford F-150, and David Thompson Page, 66, of Mammoth Lakes, California, who was driving the Subaru Outback, both died at the scene. Four others were injured and transported to a hospital.
What Investigators Found
A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper determined in the probable cause affidavit that McMinn started the descent in the wrong gear or at an unsafe speed, overused the brakes until they faded, and failed to use the runaway truck escape ramp that was available before the crash. A post-crash mechanical inspection found no defects. The brakes failed due to overuse, not a mechanical problem.
McMinn had held a CDL for approximately three years and had an air brake endorsement, which requires instruction and testing on mountain driving. “He should have never gotten himself in this situation in the first place,” the trooper wrote.
Homicide by vehicle is a high misdemeanor in Wyoming punishable by up to one year in jail, a $2,000 fine, or both. McMinn’s bond hearing is set for October 8.
Advocates Push for Broader Safety Changes
The Make Teton Pass Safer Steering Committee said the charges alone do not resolve the underlying dangers on the pass and called for additional warning signage on the eastbound descent, a vehicle checkpoint at the Wyoming-Idaho state line, and better driver messaging. The group is also urging navigation apps including Google Maps and Waze to follow Apple in adding alerts for drivers approaching the steep grade.
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