Seat belt saves crash victim

By CHERY SABOL

The Daily Inter Lake

A mother credits a seat belt for saving her daughter's life in a traffic crash near Whitefish Saturday that killed one man and left another in intensive care.

Deborah Hill has been watching over her daughter, Savannah, at Kalispell Regional Medical Center since the accident that killed Savannah's friend, Brett Adams, 24, of Bigfork.

Savannah suffered soft-tissue injuries and a hairline skull fracture.

"She is in an incredible amount of pain," Hill said.

Savannah was in a truck driven by her cousin, Christopher Gray, 27, of Bigfork. The three were on their way home after a night out in Whitefish, Hill said. Officials said none had significant amounts of alcohol in their systems.

As they drove south on U.S. 93, they were passed by a vehicle at a startling speed, Savannah told her mother.

Savannah put on her seat belt.

Moments later, a Mazda Miata slammed into the back of Gray's truck, sending it rolling down an embankment.

"She had just put it on when the first car passed her, which probably saved her and her cousin's life," Hill said.

Savannah, secured by her seat belt, also acted as an anchor for Gray, Hill said.

Gray suffered a broken shoulder blade, a collapsed lung, and a serious head injury, Hill said. He has been moved out of the intensive care unit and remains hospitalized, she said.

Adams was thrown from the vehicle and died of a brain injury.

"It's a miracle anybody survived," Hill said.

The Miata, driven by Steffanie Schauf, 26, also went into a ditch and burst into flames. She was pulled from the wreckage by two witnesses and was not seriously hurt.

Officials say Schauf had a blood-alcohol level of 0.34 - more than four times the legal limit. She has been charged with negligent homicide and two counts of vehicular assault.

Hill said she wants to know how anyone could have let Schauf get into her car at that level of intoxication.

Schauf worked Friday night until around 11 p.m. as a waitress at Pollo Grill, according to an investigation by the Flathead County Sheriff's Office. The crash happened at 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

Hill wants others to take a lesson from her daughter's suffering.

"They'd better have their seat belts on," she said of anyone on the road.

"And stay off the road if you've been drinking."