Montana trooper survives head-on collision

The Daily Inter Lake

A 29-year-old Kalispell man was killed and a Montana Highway Patrol trooper seriously injured early Monday morning in a head-on collision near mile marker 107 on U.S. 93 South.

Trooper Mike Haynes was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center with serious injuries and was listed Monday evening in critical condition, said a hospital spokesman.

The other driver, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead on the scene, according to Flathead County Undersheriff and deputy coroner Pete Wingert.

The driver is the fourth traffic fatality on Flathead County highways this year. All four fatalities have occurred since Thursday.

Haynes was southbound on U.S. 93 north of Somers about 2:40 a.m. Monday when the driver of a Volkswagen traveling northbound in the southbound lanes struck the trooper's marked squad car head-on, according to the Montana Department of Justice. U.S. 93 at the collision site is a physically divided four-lane highway.

Haynes, 28, suffered extensive leg injuries and head trauma in the collision, which left both vehicles severely mangled.

Patrol commander Col. Mike Tooley said the crash remains under investigation.

"While more information will become available as the investigation is conducted, this morning I encourage all Montanans to join the entire patrol and keep Trooper Haynes and his family in their thoughts and prayers," Tooley said in a statement. "I'd also like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased."

The Montana Department of Justice has yet to release further circumstances of the crash, including what investigators suspect the Volkswagen was doing on the wrong side of the highway and whether alcohol or excessive speed were factors.

Haynes, who was sworn in as a trooper in August 2006, is the third on-duty Montana Highway Patrol trooper to be struck in a head-on collision in the Kalispell area in the past two years.

Trooper Evan Schneider, 29, died on Aug. 26, 2008, when his patrol car was hit by a pickup truck. The two people in the pickup truck also died of their injuries. An investigation showed a third vehicle caused the driver of the pickup to lose control and veer into the path of the patrol car.

On Oct. 9, 2007, Trooper David Graham, 36, died when a pickup drifted across the center lane and hit his vehicle.

The driver of the Volkswagen is the fourth traffic fatality on Flathead County highways this year. All four fatalities have occurred since Thursday.