WHP Photo
Dental records have confirmed the identity of a man who died in a crash near Laramie on January 31, 2016.
According to a release from Wyoming Highway Patrol, 19-year-old Mitchell D. Foust from Grand Junction, Colo. has been identified as the man who died in the fiery crash shortly after 3 p.m. on January 31st about 15 miles southwest of Laramie on Wyoming State Highway 230.
WHP says Foust was driving west on WY 230 in a 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup when the truck crossed into the eastbound lane in a right hand curve of the highway. A 2013 Freightliner commercial truck loaded with crude oil and driven by 34-year-old Cheyenne resident Stephen Harvicks was travelling east on WY 230 when Foust crossed into his lane. Harvicks applied emergency braking and steering in an attempt to avoid the wreck, but a head-on collision still ensued.
Both vehicles were immediately engulfed in flame.
Harvicks was able to escape the cab of his truck and was uninjured from the crash. The fire was contained before reaching the trailer with crude oil.
Foust sustained fatal injuries on the scene. Due to the fire, dental records were utilized to confirm his identity.
Both Foust and Harvicks were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.
WHP is investigation driver inattention as the contributing factor in the crash that marked the sixth highway fatality in Wyoming for 2016.