Car crash injures 10 teens
The Daily Inter Lake
and The Western News
Ten teenagers in one 1979 Ford Bronco: None were wearing seat belts and they apparently were under the influence of alcohol.
"It was a very violent crash," said Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Duane Bowers, who is heading up the investigation into a Saturday night accident near Libby.
"They were extremely lucky … to be able to pull through with trauma such as they had."
Lucas Lampton, 19, was traveling east on Lower Granite Creek Road at about 1 a.m. with nine other teens stuffed inside a vehicle meant to seat five, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
Lampton missed the turn at Granite Creek Road and drove straight through the intersection, striking a tree on the road's east side head-on at between 45 and 50 mph.
None of the teens, all from Libby, were wearing seat belts. Alcohol and excessive speed were factors in the accident, said Bowers.
"It appears that everyone was under the influence," said Bowers, adding that he believed the teens were on their way back from a wooded area where a party may have been taking place.
Krista Byington, 16; Maura Rucker, 17; Amber Carvey, 17; Derek McKinzie, 18; Jonathan Doyle, 17; Kortney Fitzgerald, 16; Myron Rowe, 17; Charles Drury, 19; and Katie Zimmer, 17 all were taken via ambulance to St. John's Lutheran Hospital.
Several of the passengers were in critical condition that night, Bowers said. One girl remained in critical condition Tuesday at a hospital in Spokane, where she was airlifted after the crash.
The impact of the collision was severe enough to throw passengers riding in the back seat through the windshield, one doctor said. Two passengers were found on the car's hood, Bowers said.
One passenger suffered a partial scalping. Her skin and hair were pulled back from her forehead to the crown of her skull. Another passenger suffered swelling of the brain and seriously bruised lungs, while another suffered a herniated disc.
Almost everyone had cuts and bruises, according to emergency room doctors.
The investigation is still ongoing, and no charges have been filed against the driver or anyone else, Lincoln County Deputy Attorney Grant Gibson said.
The scale of the emergency heavily taxed the Libby Volunteer Ambulance service's resources.
"All the patients tested us hard, but we handled it," ambulance secretary Penny Kyes said. "Everyone did really well and the most amazing thing is that no one died."
At least 14 of the ambulance service's 22 to 25 volunteers responded to this accident. One responder came all the way from Troy. Despite the large number of victims, the service was able to put five ambulances on the scene within 10 minutes.
Additional doctors and staff from St. John's hospital were called from their homes in the middle of the night to treat the influx of crash victims. One doctor was sent to perform triage for patients on the scene.
"It probably went as well as it could go," said Dr. Dean Nelson, a physician at St. John's.
"There is definitely a take-home message here. The travesty of alcohol in the community, it's not whether or not it will happen, but when it will happen."