LDS official recovering after crash

An emeritus general authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was recovering from a skull fracture in a Salt Lake hospital Thursday after his car hit a pair of horses near Afton, Wyo., police said.

Elder Vaughn Featherstone, 72, who is president of the Logan Temple, was returning to Logan Wednesday night with his wife, Merlene, after speaking at a fireside for a group of Boy Scouts near Grover, Wyo. He was driving on U.S. 89 when his car struck two horses in the road about 8:30 p.m., Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Brad Anderson said.

The first horse was decapitated. The second horse smashed through the car's windshield on the driver's side and peeled the roof off the Featherstones' car down to the trunk, Anderson said.

The impact knocked Elder Featherstone out, but his car kept traveling. His foot floored the gas pedal, and his car continued down the road at a high rate of speed, according to one witness. Elder Featherstone's wife had to lean over and turn off the car, which coasted for nearly a mile before it hit a snowbank and stopped, Anderson said.

Afton resident Nathan Turner was returning home from the same fireside and was the first to come upon the accident. Even though he had been sitting in the second row during the fireside, he didn't recognize Elder Featherstone.

Turner said the car was peeled open like a tin can. Elder Featherstone at that time was semiconscious, saying he needed to get back on the road and keep driving, he said.

Turner went to a nearby house and had the residents call 911. He then pulled a first-aid kit and some blankets from his car to help the Featherstones in the freezing weather until paramedics arrived.

Initially, emergency crews couldn't find the car because it had traveled so far from the accident scene.

After searching the area, Anderson said, he found the car with its roof torn off. While approaching the vehicle, he said, he was already on the radio to his supervisor telling him to be prepared to make death notifications.

To his surprise, both Elder Featherstone and his wife were sitting up and talking. Merlene Featherstone said she thought they had hit a cow.

"I was quite amazed," Anderson said of seeing both of them conscious and semi-alert.

Rescue crews needed to use the jaws of life to cut open Elder Featherstone's door to get him out, Anderson said.

He was taken to Lincoln County Hospital and then flown to a hospital in Salt Lake City. He was reportedly taken to LDS Hospital, but a hospital spokeswoman was unable Thursday to confirm that because of federal hospital privacy rules.