One Jefferson High School student is dead and another is hospitalized after a crash between Clancy and Montana City on Monday night.
Makinzy Rynearson-Gray, a 17-year-old senior at the school, died in the crash, according to Jefferson High School Superintendent Tim Norbeck, who confirmed the death in a phone call on Tuesday morning and said that additional counselors were at the school to help students and staff process the death. He said that the school notified parents of the death and the student’s name via email around 11 a.m.
The school did not release the name of the injured student.
“We have counselors [available] for students to meet, since there was a student fatality,” he said, adding that counselors from schools around the region traveled to Boulder on Tuesday to offer services at Jefferson High.
The Montana Highway Patrol announced the fatal crash in a brief emailed report on Tuesday morning.
The crash occurred around 8:13 p.m. on southbound Interstate 15 about 2.7 miles north of Clancy, according to the report, which stated that the road surface was icy. The vehicle, a Ford Escape, “failed to negotiate a right-hand curve and lost control,” before spinning, traveling off the right side of the roadway and striking a tree.
The 17-year-old female driver, who was wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene, the report stated, and an 18-year-old female passenger was transported to St. Peter’s hospital in Helena. The passenger’s condition was not immediately available at press time.
Becka Howey, a supervisor at the High Patrol’s communication center, wrote in an email that “MHP will not release any names or confirm anyone who may or may not be involved.”
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