BOONE COUNTY — A 17-year-old Northern Iowa driver and a Webster City man were injured late Saturday when a vehicle crossed the center line and smashed head-on into the teenager’s Jeep on Highway 17.
The crash happened at approximately 11:28 p.m. September 19 just south of the Hamilton-Boone county line.
The Iowa State Patrol said Paulo Benjamin Mendoza Ponce, 32, of Webster City, was driving a 2017 Ford on Highway 17 when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck an oncoming 2020 Jeep head-on.
Olivia Emalyn Bergman, 17, of Stratford, was driving the Jeep.
The force of the collision sent both vehicles tumbling from the highway. The Ford entered the west ditch and came to rest upside down, while the Jeep landed on its driver’s side in the east ditch.
Mendoza Ponce and Bergman were both injured and transported to Boone County Hospital. Boone EMS transported Mendoza Ponce, while Stratford EMS transported Bergman.
The patrol did not disclose the severity of their injuries in its initial report.
Both drivers were wearing seat belts. Investigators credited the restraints with saving their lives.
The mangled vehicles were removed by Central Iowa Towing.
Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies, Boone County sheriff’s deputies, Stanhope Fire and Rescue and first responders, Stratford Fire and Rescue and EMS, and Boone EMS assisted at the scene.
The collision follows several other severe head-on crashes on Iowa highways, including a September 5 collision near Osage that killed two people and injured another.
The Highway 17 crash remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.