15. A Shocking Accident
On a sunny Sunday, on June 18, 2017, one emergency responder was called to the scene of a car crash in on Idaho’s Highway 30. Although this first responder had been on many calls before nothing could prepare him for this accident. The horrific event took three lives and could have claimed a fourth.
14. A Helper in Distress
In the midst of responding to the emergency call, the first responder in question arrived on the scene. But upon arriving the horrific display of metal and scrapped vehicle, it became clear that the helper was the one who would be in need of help as the first responder succumbed to cardiac arrest upon witnessing the heartbreaking aftermath of the crash. The story behind this crash site is what hurts the most.
13. Father’s Day
This awful scene was the result of just a seemingly fun Father’s Day. Like many American families, the Neibaurs intended on spending the holiday celebrating together. Mom, Bobbi, and the father Eric had decided to take their children Eric, 15, and Lauren, 13, camping all weekend in the beautiful Big Springs, Idaho. It was supposed to be a weekend full of beautiful memories and family fun but that’s not what ended up happening for the unsuspecting family.
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12. An Outdoor Escape
Towards the end of the family’s mini vacation, they all loaded up their vehicles and headed home to Pocatello, a 140-mile drive from the beautiful Big Springs. While the parents piled into their car, 15-year-old Eric drove himself and his sister in a 1999 Chevy pickup truck. Many found this detail, however, extremely out of the ordinary.
11. Out of the Ordinary
Although many might have been extremely alarmed to see such a young boy behind the wheel of a car. It turns out that having a 15-year-old behind the wheel is legal in Idaho. In fact, Idaho State law allows teens of this age to obtain a license after they take a driver’s education course and log 50 hours of supervised driving practice. But despite completing the necessary hours and legality of the situation, something didn’t seem right about this to many after learning the age of the young driver.
10. Something Gone Wrong
Bobbi and Eric carefully kept watching over their young driver in their rearview mirror throughout their drive home that Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, the watchful parents were about to realize that something had gone horribly wrong.
9. The Unthinkable
It suddenly became clear that the Neibaurs could no longer see Eric’s red pickup trailing close behind their vehicle. They became worried when they realized that the vehicle that was carrying their two children and Eric had completely disappeared. Then they realized the unthinkable had happened.
8. A Heartbreaking Crash
It was tragic when Eric’s pickup was found in the westbound lanes of Idaho’s Highway 30. Officials said he must have crossed into the eastbound lanes at nearly 12:45 p.m. Soon, they would discover that he and his sister crashed head-on into a 2011 Chevy Suburban travelling in the opposite direction.
7. The Crash Site
In the midst of the heartbreaking incident, Idaho state police did not immediately reveal the cause of the accident because they wanted to test various theories for the possible reasons behind the crash. Upon recovering evidence of the crash’s cause, they realized how bad the crash had been. Eric’s pickup was hardly recognizable instead it was a crumpled up mound of metal and shattered glass. But the remains of the car were not the worst part of the accident.
6. Trapped Inside
The pain of the family members who witnessed what had happened to the teens is unimaginable. Within the wreckage of their son’s truck, the Neibaurs found their children trapped inside struggling to remain alive. Emergency responders and the family desperately tried to get the children out from the destroyed vehicle but unfortunately, they made a very grim discovery.
5. A Grim Discovery
Lauren and Eric had died trapped within the vehicle at the scene of the accident despite the desperate attempts to be rescued by family and emergency responders. The driver of the Suburban they hit, 70-year-old Jay Lanningham, also died. His passenger, a girl whose identity was not disclosed had to be immediately airlifted to a local hospital. The scene was not only beyond heartbreaking for the family but even for the first responder who upon arriving experienced something truly unusual.
4. Heart-Stopping
As the first responder completed the grim task of removing the bodies of Lauren and Eric from their truck, he began to experience pain in his heart and then discovered that his heart stopped beating altogether. The first responder was going into cardiac arrest right there on the scene of the crash. This was truly an unusual occurrence.
3. The Emergency Team
Fortunately for the first responder, the rest of the emergency response team had caught up with him and family on the scene of the crash and began to aid him as he was in cardiac arrest. The emergency response team took the first responder to Pocatello, where he was nursed back to health before being released. Lorin Nielsen, the local sheriff, told the Idaho State Journal just how “The damage was so horrific and there weren’t any skid marks,” he said.
2. Remembering The Fallen
Lorin Nielsen told the Idaho State Journal “The damage was so horrific and there weren’t any skid marks,” he said. “All of us have seen death before,” he said. “But when we have kids that are about the same age it really hits home a bit more than anything else does. Like the first responder, the rest of the community was at a complete loss for words. To honor the young lives lost, more than 500 people attended a candlelit vigil to remember and celebrate the lives that were tragically lost in the crash.
1. An Unbreakable Bond
In the midst of a great tragedy, the important things are what the family remembers most, “Everybody can say that they are friends, that they loved their siblings, […] but those two were unique. They had a magical connection,” their mom Bobbi told the Idaho State Journal. The Neibaurs’ cousin, Isaac Ross, told Local News 8 that, in a way, their tragic end was a comfort as the two wouldn’t have survived apart. “If they both didn’t go, Eric wouldn’t be able to function without Lauren and Lauren wouldn’t be able to function without Eric,” he said. “Lord had mercy on them.” This just goes to show how important it is to hold those we love, close to our hearts each day.