Armpit hair set on fire, triggers Idaho crash

A teenager crashed his SUV Sunday morning after a passenger used a lighter to set his armpit hair on fire, according to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.

The crash happened at 5:30 a.m. on Columbia Road between Meridian and Linder roads. Eighteen-year-old Tristan Myers was driving when his front-seat passenger, a 16-year-old boy, set Myers’ armpit hair on fire. The driver lost control of the Ford Bronco, rolling it.

Two girls in the back seat, ages 15 and 16, were thrown from the SUV. Myers, his front-seat passenger, and a 17-year-old boy remained in the vehicle. None of the teens were wearing seatbelts, deputies say.

Three of the teenagers were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Myers first said he had swerved to avoid an animal in the road, but the truth emerged after deputies talked to all the teens.

Myers, who deputies say was speeding and driving erratically before the crash, was cited for inattentive driving. The lighter-wielding passenger was ticketed for interfering with the driver’s safe operation of a vehicle.