The truck, also northbound, was allegedly traveling at an excessive speed and did not stop at the scene of the accident. Rangers immediately responded in a park ambulance, but Pool was pronounced dead at the scene. While several rangers were on scene at the accident, another ranger identified the suspect truck fleeing north towards Moran Junction. It was stopped at Elk Ranch Flats, just south of the junction. The two were transported to the Teton County Jail and an investigation is now underway.
Additional charges are pending.
Pool, a Jackson resident, worked for the park as a seasonal fee collection ranger at the Moose entrance station in 1996. The park community has been especially hard hit by this tragic fatality. Rangers found that he'd suffered a compound ankle fracture, a separated shoulder, and other injuries. Park medics Cindy Purcell and Rick DeLappe reduced the separation while the SAR team rigged for a 600-foot technical scree evacuation to a landing zone prepared by the park helitack crew. The boy was flown to a regional medical center, where he is currently in stable condition.