Crash Story

Date: Jul 22, 2009; Section: Front Page; Page: A1

Date: Jul 22, 2009; Section: Weather; Page: A10

Several injured in three area crashes By JODI HAUSEN Chronicle Staff Writer

BELGRADE - Three car accidents in less than two hours kept Montana Highway Patrollers dashing from one wreck to the other Tuesday evening. Four men were taken to the hospital after an accident involving an SUV on Interstate 90 around 4 p.m., Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Wisniewski said. All four occupants, three of whom were ejected in the rollover crash at mile marker 294 between Belgrade and Manhattan, were taken to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital where one remained in critical condition Tuesday. The other two did not have life-threatening injuries, Trooper Michael Walrath said. The four men, all in their early 20s, were living in West Yellowstone for the summer and were heading back there after a family reunion in Glacier National Park, Wisniewski said. All four of the men were from Georgia - three were brothers. Their names were not available Tuesday evening. It appeared the driver of the Jeep Cherokee drifted into the grass alongside the right side of the highway from an eastbound lane and then overcorrected, Walrath said. According to witnesses, the SUV rolled multiple times landing on its wheels in the median, he said. It was unknown how the driver ended up heading off the road because troopers were unable to interview him, Walrath said. Two of the passengers said they did not see what happened - one was sleeping and the other was reading. Traffic was stalled for about three miles behind the accident for about 30 minutes as troopers documented the accident - marking spots of deeply-gouged asphalt with orange spray paint and taking photos. Westbound traffic was reduced to one lane. Backpacks, water bottles and other camping gear were strewn along 40 yards of the highway. As troopers began to open the shoulder for eastbound traffic around 4:30 p.m., a second less serious accident was reported on Saddle Mountain Road near Sypes Canyon Road. Two 16-year-old Bozeman boys were not injured when the Subaru wagon they were traveling in landed partially rolled in a ditch beside the gravel road around 4:35 p.m., Trooper Justin Braun said. The driver said a check was about to blow out his window and, as he attempted to grab it, he headed off the road. He lost control when he overcorrected and spun sideways on the gravel ending up in the ditch. Braun did not believe the boy was speeding. The initial report of this accident indicated there were three occupants with one trapped inside the Subaru but neither boy was injured. “It was a very good ending,” Braun said. “It didn’t sound good when we were going up there. It’s because they were wearing their seatbelts.” A third accident on Amsterdam Road around 5:20 p.m., resulted in two totaled vehicles and two more people at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital with non-threatening injuries, Trooper Marvin Reddick said. According to witnesses, a Belgrade man in his 20s was pulling out of the Erwin Bridge Fishing Access onto Amsterdam Road and pulled out into oncoming traffic. A Minnesota woman, also in her 20s, was traveling westbound around 60 mph, under the speed limit, in a Ford Taurus and was struck by the man in a Subaru Outback, Reddick said. The vehicles were blocking Amsterdam Road for about an hour. It did not appear that alcohol or drugs were involved in any of the accidents Tuesday evening, troopers said. Jodi Hausen can be reached at [email protected] or 582-2630.