Vehicle crashes kill two
By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/Daily Inter Lake
Two men died Wednesday morning in separate vehicle crashes north and east of Kalispell.
Trevor Scott Osler, 21, was killed when his vehicle rolled over on Montana 35 near the Flathead River bridge early Wednesday.
Eight hours later, an 84-year-old man was killed in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Whitefish Stage Road and West Reserve Drive.
According to the Montana Highway Patrol, Osler, of Kalispell, was southbound on Montana 35 near mile marker 49 at high speed about 1:05 a.m. Wednesday when he lost control and slid sideways off the road.
The vehicle rolled after hitting a utility pole, ejecting Osler, and landed on its top.
Osler was not wearing a seat belt, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Dustin LeRette said.
No other vehicles were involved. Osler was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Flathead County Undersheriff and deputy coroner Pete Wingert.
The second crash Wednesday morning killed an 84-year-old Whitefish man and injured two other people.
The man, whose name was not released pending the notification of family, was southbound on Whitefish Stage Road at about 9:20 a.m. when a Ford pickup heading west on West Reserve Drive ran a red light and struck his four-door Buick sedan broadside, said Montana Highway Patrol trooper Robert L. Hensley.
The man was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, Wingert said.
The man's passenger (his 84-year-old wife) and the driver of the pickup (a 60-year-old Kalispell man), were taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
Witnesses traveling behind each of the vehicles involved in the crash told investigators the Buick had a green light when the wreck occurred.
The pickup truck's driver told investigators he was having a medical problem as he approached the intersection and was trying to get home, but doctors were unable to find anything immediately wrong with him at the hospital, Hensley said.
Neither excessive speed nor alcohol were factors in the crash.
Investigators will forward their reports to the Flathead County Attorney's Office for possible charges against the pickup truck's driver.
The deaths mark the 21st and 22nd people to die in crashes on Flathead County highways this year.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com