Left inset: Austin Summers (Canyon County Sheriff's Office). Right inset: Graham Summers (GoFundMe). Background: The GMC pickup truck that cops say Austin Summers was driving when he killed his son, who was in the passenger seat with no seat belt (KIVI/YouTube).
An Idaho father was making an Instagram "story" and browsing on Amazon before his 7-year-old son was crushed to death in a rear-end crash that the dad caused, according to police.
Austin Summers, 31, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and two counts of injury to a child, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime. He is accused of killing his oldest son, Graham Summers, and injuring his two younger sons, ages 3 and 5, who were also in his GMC pickup truck when the crash occurred over Thanksgiving week in 2025.
Summers was allegedly traveling at speeds of 73 to 75 mph in a 65 mph zone when he slammed into a Ford F-450 that was traveling about 7 mph with its hazard lights on due to a mechanical issue, cops say.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by the Idaho Statesman and local NBC affiliate KTVB says Summers was drafting an Instagram "story" before the crash about how bad traffic was while he was driving westbound on Interstate 84.
"Avoid th[e] freeway heading …," a cut-off caption read, according to the affidavit.
Summers was also scrolling on Instagram, browsing on Amazon, and looking at photos on his phone before the crash happened that Wednesday afternoon, just one day before Thanksgiving, the affidavit says. He also allegedly captured video and a photo of a separate crash he saw on the interstate just minutes before his own crash, the Statesman reports.
Blood tests found cocaine and opiates in his system at the time of the crash, according to police. Summers allegedly admitted to investigators that Graham was not wearing a seat belt and sitting in the passenger seat, while his other children were in the back seat.
A crash reconstruction specialist with the Idaho State Police determined that the cause of the collision was Summers' reckless driving, which included his cellphone use, speeding and failure to ensure passenger safety, according to the Statesman.
"While I am devastated by the loss of my son, I take responsibility not in that I was impaired by any means, or that [Graham] unilaterally took his seatbelt off while I was driving on the freeway, but that I should have immediately pulled over and made sure he was properly buckled," Summers said in a May 2026 court filing, according to KTVB. "That will haunt me forever."
Graham's autopsy determined that his cause of death was multiple blunt-force injuries, the Statesman reports. Summers was also injured in the crash and found trapped in the driver's side of his GMC. He allegedly claimed that he had no recollection of the collision while trying to piece together what happened in police interviews.
According to the affidavit, Summers said he remembered his kids being "rambunctious" that afternoon while he was getting on the freeway. The next thing he knew he was in pain and "screaming to save his son" after the crash, the affidavit says.
Graham's mother allegedly told police that Summers was known to drive around with their children unbuckled. Photos and videos provided by the woman show the kids without seat belts on in vehicles, the affidavit says.
Summers is being held on a $500,000 bond and is due in court on Aug. 6 for a preliminary hearing.