The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a single-vehicle crash that killed five teenage boys when the car drove off the road and over a cliff in Grand Junction in August.
Federal investigators published a this week detailing what little is known – that five 17-year-old boys were driving in a 2003 Cadillac CTS southeast on Lookout Lane just before midnight on Aug. 8 when the driver “failed to negotiate a leftward curve in the road.”
The road is along the edge of a cliffside overlooking the Gunnison River, and the vehicle went off the road, rolled, went down a steep embankment and over the cliff, crashing into the rocks below, federal officials said.
All five boys, who the Mesa County Coroner’s Office identified as Tristan Tucker, William Simms, Tyler Kersey-Huffman, Titus Gould and Braden Taylor, were killed in the crash.
NTSB’s initial report described the roadway – two lanes, multiple curves and dry at the time of the crash – and included photos from the scene, including a photo showing tire tracks where the Cadillac left the road, drove over the sidewalk and a lawn before it went over the cliff.
“All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes,” federal officials wrote.
Federal investigators typically publish final crash reports, including probable cause and contributing factors, between 12 and 24 months after a crash.
