Two people seriously injured in Pablo accident

Two people were seriously injured after driving into a signal light pole head on April 13.

The accident occurred at about 3:45 p.m., involved a 2004 tan Taurus driven by Waylon James DeRoche, 30 and carrying Miriah Rose DeRoche, 21, from Missoula County. The car was speeding, Don Bell, Lake County Sheriff said.

Witnesses said the Taurus was traveling between 80 and 100 miles per hour, Bell said.

The crash occurred after Waylon James DeRoche, the driver, ignored a curve on a northbound frontage road of Highway 93 near the intersection of Courville Trail in Pablo. The posted speed limit in the area is 25 miles per hour.

When the crash occurred, Waylon James DeRoche broke through the front windshield head first, Bell said. Miriah Rose DeRoche hit and dimpled the front windshield shortly after impact.

The pair was not wearing seatbelts but their impact was slowed a bit by the car’s airbag deployment, Bell said.

Just before the car hit the light pole, witnesses said the driver of the Taurus nearly hit another car head on.

Moments after the car’s impact, witnesses said they saw smoke in the car’s engine compartment. Witnesses who arrived before emergency personnel helped Miriah Rose DeRoche from the car.

The car was destroyed in the crash, Bell said. 

Its headlights pointed close to one another and the engine compartment was wrapped around the pole, Bell said. 

Both victims were airlifted to trauma centers; one in Missoula County and one in Seattle, Bell said.