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Here's what happened next. The jeep driven by 16 year old Katarina Pursifull suddenly veered off the highway, into the steep median, the Jeep rolled onto it's side and into the oncoming traffic.
"From what a witness said the jeep was moving along like normal, all of the sudden went in the center and lost control." Harris said.
Accident investigators don't know why the driver lost control. The Jeep landed upside down on the hood of the BMW. A 17 year old boy who was riding in the backseat of the Jeep was killed. The driver of the Jeep was airlifted to a Fresno hospital. The other passenger, 19 year old Michael Gibson was taken to a Visalia Hospital, where family and friends rushed to see him. Gibson graduated from Golden West High School last year. A friend of Gibson's told Action News that Pursifull and the boy who died were believed to be students there. (The name of the teen who died had not been released as of midnight.)
The driver of the BMW, Patricia Edwards of Exeter, was in the car with two babies. She said she was shaken up and sore. The infants were not hurt. Monday night she posted this statement on her Facebook page,
"Want to give a BIG THANK YOU to the CHP officers, paramedics, DA, Sherriff's and passersby that helped me and my babies today."
An investigation into the accident is underway. The CHP says everyone involved appeared to have been wearing seatbelts. The overturned Jeep did not appear to have a roll bar and the interior was crushed in the rollover.
