RUFFIN PREVOST Billings Gazette | Posted: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 12:00 am
CODY - Intentional reckless driving and a blood-alcohol level of twice the legal limit led to a fiery crash Jan. 28 near Greybull that killed five people, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
Randall Lee LaBrie, 41, of Malta, Mont., had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent when he steered his van into the eastbound lane of U.S. Highway 14-16-20 west of Greybull and collided with an oncoming pickup truck, according to Trooper Lanny Hensley, who investigated the incident.
Witnesses in another vehicle had called law enforcement minutes earlier to report that LaBrie appeared to be "playing chicken" with them, Hensley said in a written statement detailing the findings of his investigation.
Killed in the van with LaBrie were two passengers, Elwood Michael Werk, 48, of Harlem, Mont., and Stephen Mark Newman, 31, of Greybull. None was wearing a seat belt.
The driver of the pickup, John Munkberg, 70, and his wife, Carol Munkberg, 66, of Ten Sleep, also were killed, even though they were wearing seat belts. Toxicology tests for John Munkberg indicated he had not been drinking.
Both vehicles were traveling at speeds estimated at between 65 and 70 mph.
Hensley said that before the crash, four passengers were in another car traveling east, about one mile ahead of the Munkbergs, when LaBrie approached in the westbound lane, swerving erratically.
The driver of the car said LaBrie "turned off his headlights as he kept coming at them in the wrong lane," forcing the car's driver to steer his vehicle completely off the pavement to avoid being hit, Hensley said.
A passenger in the car used a cell phone to alert authorities, fearing the van might collide with the Munkbergs. The car's driver continued toward Greybull, afraid the van might turn around and come after them, Hensley said.
When police arrived, LaBrie had already crashed into the Munkbergs' truck and both vehicles were in flames.
"At the crash scene, there was no indication that John Munkberg … had any warning, or attempted to avoid LaBrie's van. There was no such indication on LaBrie's part, either," Hensley said.
Follow-up investigation revealed that LaBrie and Werk "had been at a bar in Basin most of the day, until around 8 or 8:30 p.m. Witnesses who saw them there stated that they both appeared highly intoxicated," he said.
The two men left Basin and stopped at a bar in Greybull, where they met Newman. LaBrie told a bartender there that the three men planned to drive to Billings, Mont., Hensley said.
Toxicology results released by the Big Horn County coroner showed that all three men were intoxicated, he said.
Hensley said LaBrie had a suspended driver's license.
LaBrie's Montana driver's license had expired in 2004, and his privilege to renew it had been suspended for a nontraffic-related administrative action, said Greg Noose, chief of that state's Records and Driver Control Bureau.
That action had been cleared up, but a pending fee had not been paid, Noose said.