The Whitworthian

Issue date: 2/20/07 Last Updated: 8/9/07

Mishell Jiles's car is crunched beneath a large pick-up truck Jan. 14.

A three-vehicle crash involving Whitworth students resulted in the death of three people during the icy conditions last month.

Seniors Jonathan Erlenmeyer and Brian Wilkins were driving north on Highway 2 when a van in the southbound lane was rear-ended by a pick-up and slid into their lane. All three people in the van were killed, though Erlenmeyer and Wilkins only had minor injuries.

This was just one of over 80 accidents reported to the Washington State Patrol that day and about 150 were reported the day before, according to an article in the Spokesman Review.

Whitworth '06 graduate Brad Hixson was also involved in a car accident that day. While driving south on Monroe Street, he put on the brakes and began to skid. He slid 40 feet into an intersection, where he collided with a truck, hitting the side door. The front left end of his car was damaged, but "the truck was barely dented," Hixson said.

Many other Whitworth students were involved in car accidents during this past Jan term. On January 14, freshman Candace Pontoni was riding with 24-year-old Mishell Jiles, whose younger brother and sister were in the backseat.

A large pick-up truck headed the other direction began to fish-tail and slid over the center line, directly in front of them. Jiles recalls that the truck was horizontal to her, and she thought to turn right to avoid hitting the truck straight-on. After that she does not remember anything until she was woken up by a man asking her and the other passengers questions. This man and his wife were the first on the scene, and both off-duty paramedics.

When Jiles had hit the truck's bumper, the truck had been pushed up, and then landed directly on top of her small car. Both vehicles were totaled, but the passengers only suffered minor injuries.

"All in all, it's really crazy, but really cool what God has done," Jiles said. "This has given me the opportunity to tell people about it … they can see people who it looks like should be dead, but who are fine."

Sophomore Kelsey Bumgarner was driving back from Schweitzer Mountain with five other people when her accident occurred.

"It was the thirteenth of January," Bumgarner said. "I remember we thought that was funny."

As she was changing lanes, the wheels of the vehicle caught on black ice and they slid over the center line. They barely missed two other vehicles before a Ford truck T-boned the right side and pushed them back to the center of the road.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

The Whitworthian encourages readers to comment on any content on the whitworthian.com. Article comments can be posted by anyone. The opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinion of The Whitworthian, its editors or its staff. The Whitworthian strives to monitor and delete comments with profanity, advertisements, obscenity, plagiarism, personal attacks, threats of violence or that violate the law or common decency. However, since The Whitworthian does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not find offensive or inaccurate comments on occasion.

For this reason, The Whitworthian asks readers to be responsible and respectful in any comments posted. The responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not the whitworthian.com. Readers are also encouraged to report questionable comments by e-mailing editor@whitworthian.com.