Teen dies in crash
Emergency workers try to save an 18-year-old Columbia Falls resident who was later pronounced dead following a motor-bike accident Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 2 near Hodgson Road. The driver was wearing a helmet. Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake
Daily Inter Lake
A Columbia Falls teenager died Wednesday afternoon in a vehicle accident on U.S. 2.
Flathead County Sheriff/Coroner Jim Dupont identified the man as Paul Knott, 18.
Dupont said Knott was driving "a brand-new motor scooter, like a moped" across U.S. 2 at the intersection of Hodgson Road. Knott was nearly struck by a vehicle in the southbound lane, Dupont said, and then ran into a utility trailer being pulled by a truck.
He died of head injuries.
Alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, Dupont said.
Columbia Falls ambulance and fire department, and Highway Patrol responded to the crash.
This is the fifth motorcycle fatality in Flathead County and the 27th statewide, in a year of an unusually high number of motorcycle crashes.