Kalispell man, 31, charged

A Kalispell man was arrested on a felony charge Monday for allegedly providing alcohol to girls who wound up hospitalized for alcohol poisoning.

Mark Byman, 31, turned himself in on the charge of criminal endangerment. Bond was set at $10,000.

The charge stems from a July 23 incident. Then, a Montana Highway Patrol officer went to a crash on Montana 35, where a 15-year-old girl lost control of her vehicle and went into a ditch. She was charged with DUI, and she and her 15-year-old passenger were taken to the hospital. They were charged with underage alcohol possession.

A sheriff's deputy went to the home of one of the girls' guardians. There, he found another 15-year-old girl, lying face up, unresponsive. Her airway was choked with vomit and she was tangled in a phone cord.

Kalispell Fire Department's ambulance took the unconscious girl to the hospital, where she was placed in the intensive-care unit.

Flathead County Sheriff's Office detective and Alcohol Enforcement Team coordinator Travis Bruyer said Byman bought the girls a bottle of Southern Comfort whiskey.

"He feels bad about what happened," Bruyer said. "He didn't think it would get to that point."

He said he doesn't believe Byman had any ulterior motives in giving the whiskey to the girls.

The consequences were so severe that prosecutors charged Byman with the felony, rather than a misdemeanor charge of an unlawful transaction with minors for providing the alcohol, Bruyer said.

There is a vitally important moral to the story, Bruyer said.

"It's the kind of stuff that everyone needs to keep in mind," he said.

"Even if you're 21 and your buddy's 20," you can be criminally charged for sharing alcohol, he said.

The Alcohol Enforcement Team was formed to educate the public and prevent the sale of alcohol to minors.