Teen charged in fatal 2010 crash

Posted 3/22/11

The charge alleges that Farwell drove the vehicle in a criminally negligent way on June 26, 2010, leading to the death of EmiLee Bapst of Powell.

An affidavit of probable cause filed in the case alleges Farwell was driving 10 miles over the speed …

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Teen charged in fatal 2010 crash

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A Powell teen has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with a crash that claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl last summer.

Jack Farwell, 18, turned himself in on a warrant on Friday on the misdemeanor charge. At his arraignment in Park County’s Circuit Court in Cody on Monday, Farwell pleaded not guilty. He was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance/signature bond.

The charge alleges that Farwell drove the vehicle in a criminally negligent way on June 26, 2010, leading to the death of EmiLee Bapst of Powell.

An affidavit of probable cause filed in the case alleges Farwell was driving 10 miles over the speed limit at the time of the crash.

If found guilty of vehicular homicide, Farwell would face a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

An affidavit from Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Walker filed in the case alleges Farwell was driving northbound on Wyo. 295 about four miles north of Powell. At that point, the document says, Farwell crossed the centerline, corrected to the left, then overcorrected to the right.

That caused the 2000 Ford Taurus to spin about 230 degrees counterclockwise and enter a sideways slide.

The car then collided with a large tree off the road, striking the tree at about the center of the car’s passenger side.

“The vehicle wrapped itself around the tree and then rotated approximately 180 degrees clockwise with the tree acting as an axle on a wheel,” Walker wrote.

A reconstruction of the crash by a private firm, Jackson Hole Scientific Investigations, Inc., found that Farwell had been driving approximately 75 miles per hour — 10 miles over the speed limit — at the time of the crash, the affidavit says.

Bapst, who like all four of the vehicle’s occupants was not wearing a seat belt, was partially ejected and died at the scene.

The two other teens in the vehicle — Erik Rodriguez and Luke Sherley — were seriously injured and were airlifted to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Billings for treatment.

The crash left Rodriguez in a wheelchair.

Deputy Park County Attorney Tim Blatt said much of the nearly nine-month gap between the crash and the filing of the charge came as investigators waited for final reports on the crash.

Vehicular homicide is a felony when the driver is alleged to have been driving drunk or recklessly. No such allegations are being made in the case against Farwell, making the charge a misdemeanor.

A trial has been scheduled for June 16.

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