Prankster's caper led to Idaho car crash

[September 18, 2014]  (Reuters) - A sport utility vehicle carrying five Idaho teens crashed after one of the passengers burned the driver's armpit hair with a lighter in a prank that went horribly awry, police said on Wednesday.

The teenagers, including two girls who were thrown out of the Ford Bronco, were not wearing seatbelts when their car flipped early on Sunday morning following the antic, the Ada County Sheriff's Office said.

Three of the teens were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The driver, 18-year-old Tristian Myers, initially told deputies that he swerved to avoid hitting an animal on the road, before later admitting that it was the prank that led to the accident. Police also said that Myers was speeding and driving erratically before the accident.

Myers was cited with inattentive driving, and the 16-year-old passenger who wielded the lighter was cited for interfering with the safe operation of a vehicle, police said.

Ada County contains the state's capital and most populous city, Boise.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)

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