Crash kills Kalispell woman, 27

The Daily Inter Lake and The Associated Press

Lesha Rider, 27, of Kalispell died Sunday night when a vehicle rolled on Foy's Lake Road.

The Montana Highway Patrol said alcohol was a suspected factor, but speed was not, in the 9 p.m. accident.

A patrol report said Rider was a passenger in a vehicle containing five people. The driver, Carol Jones, 28, of Kalispell apparently drifted to the right side of the road, tried to straighten the vehicle and overcorrected.

The 1982 Pontiac Firebird rolled into a ditch, landing on its roof.

ALERT helicopter and Kalispell and Smith Valley fire departments responded to the accident. Flathead County Sheriff's Office deputy Geno Cook happened to be patrolling Foy's Lake Road as the accident occurred.

Rider died at the scene, according to sheriff's Lt. Dave Leib, the deputy county coroner. Everyone else from the vehicle reportedly was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Also on Sunday, the collision of a car and a pickup on U.S. 93 killed an Elmo man.

The crash occurred as the car pulled onto the highway at Pablo and into the path of the truck, the Highway Patrol said. Lake County authorities identified the man killed as Leonard R. Joseph, 38.

With the addition of the death Monday of a Glendive woman in a crash near Park City, Montana's highway death toll for 2006 rose to 105. The 2005 toll also stood at 105 last June 19.