Genealogy Reust Steffisburg

         

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Pass Crash wild ride

Passenger recalls perilous journey and the death of a brave driver.
By Carolyn Smith

The woman who survived a terrifying ride down Teton Pass in a runaway truck Aug. 7 said driver Dave Reust was a brave soul who tried to control his vehicle until the moment he died.

Vicki Canada endured a gut-wrenching descent that lasted more than two minutes and reached speeds of 70 mph. She was pinned in the wreckage of Reust's tow truck for almost an hour after it raced into Wilson at 10:50 a.m., crashed and flipped. Emergency workers freed her from the mangled steel tomb, but Reust died almost instantly.

Canada said she thought about her partner and four children as the truck careened out of control down most of the five-mile, 2,224-foot drop. The mother of Drew Canada, a valley resident, she told her story after returning home to Bellingham, Wash., with only scrapes, bruises and a dreadful memory.

Canada, 60, said her ordeal began after she left her son to drive home over the pass. Her Audi station wagon overheated, and she called for a tow.

Reust, 33, a Washougal, Wash., native and husband and father of one, had moved to Jackson only five days earlier and worked at Flat Creek Towing four of those days. Helping Canada was his first solo job.

He met her near the summit. Strangers overlooking a mountain paradise, they were locked in fate. Within an hour one would be dead, the other forever smitten by an unforgettable rush through hell.

Reust loaded Canada's 1.5-ton car onto the flat bed of his tow truck. Canada and her 8-year-old golden retriever, Puffin, got into the passenger side of the truck. She fastened her seatbelt. Puffin sat on her lap.

Reust began the steep descent down the pass. Canada said he lost control of the truck almost immediately. "Within a very short time, he lost his gears and lost control of his brakes," she said. "I told him our only hope was the runaway truck ramp."

There are two runaway ramps on the Wilson side of the pass. Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers said Reust lost control about two miles above Wilson, above only one of the ramps. Canada talked of seeing only one runaway ramp go by. The gravel ramps are designed to slow down out-of-control vehicles, particularly trucks.

Canada said Reust failed to pull off onto the ramp, which is located more than a mile west of Wilson.

"He froze and we missed it," she said.

Canada became choked up and paused as she recounted her story. "He was only 33 years old," she said.

The truck whizzed by the ramp, Canada said. She was worried about running into other cars. "I pleaded with him to keep his hand on the horn," she said.

At 60 mph, a truck would take two minutes to race down two miles of highway. Canada said after passing the ramp, time seemed to slow down. She thought about the good and bad experiences of her life.

"We were careening down the hill and going so fast," she said, "but I was on a very slow, uplifted journey. I felt completely protected by God's love."

Canada said she thought about her partner, Hugh, and four children. She said Reust was brave and tried to ride on his burned brakes until the very moment his truck tipped and flipped in Wilson.

Highway Patrol trooper Shannon Basaraba estimated that Reust was traveling more than 70 mph as he rounded the last turn before Wilson. The speed limit is 25 mph.

As it approached the sharp turn just above the intersection of Fall Creek Road, the truck tipped onto two wheels. Canada's car came loose, and that momentum flipped the truck onto its roof, troopers said.

The car crashed into a pile of construction debris. The tow truck hit the foundation of Tommy's Truck Stop, a log cabin that had been destroyed by previous runaways and subsequently removed. The two vehicles came to rest about 25 yards apart.

Reust probably was killed instantly, Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Brian Bragonier said.

Canada was lucky to have survived the wreck, he said.

"It's absolutely amazing she's still alive," Bragonier said.

Canada said troopers told her the weight of Puffin might have kept her in the truck seat long enough to push her into a safe compartment of the wreckage.

When truck flipped onto its roof, "It was like a tin can that came crashing in," Canada said. Some time during the flip, Puffin escaped and ran to Wilson resident Janne Martell's house.

Canada said she came to rest in a 45-degree angle with her face smashed into the ground. "There was a tremendous amount of pressure all over my head," she said.

Practicing breathing and relaxation techniques she learned through extensive training in pilates, yoga and meditation, Canada tried to remain calm.

Teton County Emergency Medical Services volunteer Diane Benefiel, who lives 100 yards from the site, was the first responder at the scene. She made contact with Canada, who was screaming in pain as the weight of the truck bore down on her head.

"I would not have survived if it were not for Diane Benefiel," Canada said. "She was there within five minutes, and she never said anything but the perfect thing to me. Everything she said kept my spirit alive."

Also on the scene was a Yellow Iron Excavating backhoe that was working on the Fall Creek Road project. Construction is designed to move the intersection of the road away from the dangerous pass highway corner.

The backhoe was instrumental in lifting the eight-ton tow truck from Canada's cramped body.

Fire department volunteers from Wilson and Jackson crowded the scene and began working. Using the backhoe, they lifted the tow truck inch by inch, monitoring Canada's pain to make sure she was comfortable.

"Just a millimeter of shift would have crushed my skull," she said. "At the 58-minute point, they lifted it enough so most of the pressure was off of my skull."

At that moment, "I thought I might live," Canada said.

Canada was transported to St. John's Medical Center, where she was treated for scrapes and bruises. Now she must battle an internal trauma, knowing she narrowly escaped death.

"There's a part of me that doesn't want to believe I'm still alive," she said. "There's another part of me that knows that God's not done with me yet."

Bragonier said driver inexperience likely contributed to the crash, although mechanical failures are still being investigated.

Scott Baldwin, co-owner of Flat Creek Towing, said Reust had experience driving trucks in Alaska. Although he did not have a commercial driver's license, one is not necessary unless the total weight of the vehicle is more than 13 tons.

"One of the reasons we hired him was because of his prior trucking experience," Baldwin said. Baldwin took Reust out on several tows before letting him go out on his own. None of the training tows were up on Teton Pass, Baldwin said, but he assumed Reust had mountain driving experience.

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