Nevada man killed, others hurt in wrong-way I-80 crash

ELKO — A 27-year-old Nevada man driving the wrong way on U.S. Interstate 80 just west of Carlin was killed when he collided head-on with a Range Rover carrying two Montana residents who were injured, at least one seriously.

Casio Withers of Battle Mountain was driving a Ford Focus headed east in the westbound lane of I-80 about 25 miles west of Elko when he hit the westbound Range Rover at 3:15 a.m. Friday near the Eureka Highway turnoff.

Nevada state Trooper Jim Stewart told the Elko Daily Free Press they don’t know how long he’d been driving the wrong direction, but it had to have been “quite a while.” He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The SUV’s driver was flown to a Reno hospital. A female passenger was taken to an Elko hospital. Their names have not been released.

Eureka County Sheriff Jesse Watts said in a statement that alcohol most likely was a contributing factor in the crash.