Fort Lupton – Friends were mourning a 14-year-old girl Sunday who was killed in a rollover accident in Weld County.
Mandy Brown of Fort Lupton was partially ejected from a white Dodge Dakota pickup Saturday afternoon, according to the Colorado State Patrol. She was flown to Denver Health Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Four other teens, including the driver, escaped the crash with no injuries or minor ones.
The 2003 pickup, driven by 19-year-old Justin M. Vanderhoff of Greeley, crashed about 4:30 p.m. Saturday on eastbound Weld County Road 12 just east of County Road 31, authorities said.
Vanderhoff was arrested at the scene of the crash and taken to the Weld County Jail. The State Patrol says he was driving at an excessive speed.
None of the five teens were wearing seat belts as they traveled along the dirt road, police said.
Vanderhoff lost control, and the truck rotated counterclockwise and then skidded off the left side of the road, authorities said.
The pickup rolled one and a half times onto its top and came to rest facing west.
Vanderhoff suffered minor injuries, but he did not require medical aid.
Kiersten Duffy and Rachel Inman, both 14, of Fort Lupton were not injured.
When contacted Sunday, a tearful Rachel said she and her friends were “just hanging out and having fun” when the accident happened.
She said Vanderhoff was speeding and “driving recklessly.”
“He was fishtailing from side to side, and he turned too sharp and went into a ditch,” Rachel said.
She did not know whether Vanderhoff had been told that Mandy had died.
Rachel, who only had a few scratches, said that immediately after the crash, Mandy appeared unconscious and “was bleeding a lot.”
“She was a really good friend and always knew when we were sad,” Rachel said. “She always told me that we would go to college together. She wanted to be a teacher or a doctor.”
Another passenger, Wesley Rheads, 18, of Erie, suffered minor injuries and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette for treatment, state police said.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
