At approximately 3 p.m. on Monday afternoon, Sept. 9, a turquoise colored 4x4 Chevrolet truck was northbound on Highway 93, approximately three miles south of Lolo near Trader Brothers, when the driver lost control of the vehicle and rolled multiple times before coming to a stop in the barrow pit - the pit area between the highway and the railroad tracks.

Ken Morris, engineer with Missoula Rural Fire said that when they arrived at the scene the driver was unconscious inside and the passenger was outside of the vehicle.

"There were two patients in the vehicle," Morris said. "Both were backboarded, and full C-spine precautions were taken and both were transported to a local hospital. The passenger was outside of the vehicle sitting in the barrow pit, so I don't know if he was wearing his seat belt, but I cut the driver loose, so he definitely had his seat belt on. It looked like the driver hit his head while the vehicle was rolling, but he had stable vital signs when we loaded him into the ambulance."

Ken Morris With Missoula Rural Fire

A witness to the accident, Rick Bonebright of Florence, said the accident happened while the two vehicles were traveling in opposite directions.

"I was traveling south and the truck was traveling north," Bonebight said. "The next thing I knew the truck was sideways and headed for the barrow ditch. With the dust storm that he created, it prevented us from seeing exactly what happened until the truck came to a stop. It looked to me like he just went sideways in the road."

Witness Rick Bonebright

Responding to the accident were two vehicles from the Montana Highway Patrol, two fire trucks from Missoula Rural Fire and an ambulance from Missoula Emergency Services.

 

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