Date: September 8, 2006
Contact: Nash, (307) 344-2010
Contact: Vallie, (307) 344-2012
The driver of the vehicle involved in a fatal accident Wednesday night in Yellowstone National Park has been arrested and is in federal custody.
27 year old Colby Anthony Skippergosh of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan was arrested Thursday night after being released from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. Details on the variety of charges Skippergosh faces will be available once he makes his initial appearance next week before Federal Magistrate Stephen Cole in Mammoth Hot Springs.
The passenger in the red Chevrolet Avalanche has been identified as 27 year old Meghann Rebekah Williams, also of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. She was dead at the scene.
The accident happened shortly before midnight Wednesday on the park’s North Entrance Road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, Montana.
The vehicle carrying the pair was traveling north through the Gardner River Canyon when Skippergosh, the driver, lost control. The vehicle skidded for over 160 feet, struck a guardrail, vaulted 45 feet down the embankment, and came to rest upside down along the riverbank.
The road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner was closed for about 90 minutes Thursday afternoon to remove the wreckage.
Alcohol was involved in the accident. This was the third DUI motor vehicle related accident in Yellowstone in the last week, and the third fatal accident in the park this year.
-www.nps.gov/yell –
