Man killed in accident identified
One man was killed and three were injured in a three-car crash Thursday evening on U.S. 93 just south of Snowline Lane.
James Paul Holmes, 30, of Kalispell, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Flathead County coroners.
Holmes was driving northbound on U.S. 93 in a 1993 Pontiac Grand Am at 5:08 p.m. when he was struck head on by a 1999 Dodge pickup traveling in the opposite direction.
The Dodge truck had been southbound, but the driver lost control and slid into oncoming traffic, according to the Montana Highway Patrol trooper Jim Hawkins.
The driver of a 1992 Ford pickup northbound behind the Grand Am saw the crash and tried to brake, but began to slide sideways and eventually came to rest alongside Holmes' car.
The two passengers in the Grand Am, 25- and 22-year-old men, were taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center with moderate to severe injuries. The 37-year-old driver of the Dodge pickup also was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. The 33-year-old driver of the Ford pickup refused medical attention.
Icy roads may have contributed to the accident, Hawkins said. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor, he added.
The accident was the first of four to occur within 23 minutes of each other Thursday, stretching the county's emergency services almost to the breaking point. Almost every ambulance in the county was dispatched to the crashes, Sheriff Mike Meehan said.
Holmes' death is the 25th traffic related fatality in Flathead County this year.
Two hours after the fatal accident, another serious accident occurred in the same spot on U.S. 93.
Nicholas Seymour, 28, was seriously injured after his 1997 Chevrolet Lumina, which officials said was traveling at highway speed, rear-ended a stopped snowplow loaded with gravel.
A Kalispell Fire Department ambulance transported Seymour to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, but he was later flown to a hospital in Missoula. His condition was not released.
The road had become extremely icy after firefighters hosed it down to clear debris, fuel, and oil from the earlier accident, according to the Montana Highway Patrol trooper David Mills.
A state snowplow, on hand to gravel the slick road, was stopped in the left northbound lane when Seymour's car crashed into it.
The snowplow driver was not hurt, but the impact caused enough damage to the plow that it had to be towed away.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com