Katie Terhune

KTVB-TV, Boise, Idaho

BOISE — A teenager crashed his sport-utility vehicle after a passenger used a lighter to set the hair in his armpit on fire, according to the Ada County Sheriff's Office.

The crash happened at 5:30 a.m. MT Sunday between Boise and the city of Nampa, Idaho, about 20 miles west. Tristan Myers, 18, was driving when his front-seat passenger, a 16-year-old boy, set Myers' armpit hair on fire, deputies said. The driver lost control of the Ford Bronco, rolling the vehicle.

Two girls in the backseat, ages 15 and 16, were thrown from the vehicle. Myers, his front-seat passenger, and a 17-year-old boy remained in the vehicle.

None of the teens was wearing a seat belt, deputies say.

Three of the teenagers were taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. Myers first said he had swerved to avoid an animal in the road, but the truth emerged after deputies talked to all of the teens.

Myers, whom deputies say was speeding and driving erratically before the crash, was cited for inattentive driving. The lighter-wielding passenger, whose name was not released because he is a minor, was ticketed for interfering with the driver's safe operation of a vehicle.

A court date will be scheduled later.