One man survives drop into river

POLSON — Two Missoula men were killed and a third man injured when their vehicle drove over a cliff into the Flathead River early Saturday.

The lone survivor, reportedly the driver of the yellow Ford Escape sport utility vehicle, is recovering from his injuries at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Joshua Jerome Clairmont, 23, and Drew Austin Taylor, 21, both of Missoula, died of what preliminary autopsy reports show as drowning.

Taylor is originally from Las Vegas, Nev., and was the owner of the vehicle involved in the 3 a.m. accident.

Shane Steffans, 24, of Missoula survived the crash and is hospitalized in stable condition. He may have been ejected from the vehicle. Lake County Sheriff’s Office Undersheriff Jay Doyle said toxicology reports are incomplete, and investigators are unsure whether alcohol was involved in the crash.

The accident scene is approximately three miles east of Buffalo Bridge and two miles west of Kerr Dam.

Apparently the vehicle went off a 25-foot cliff before hitting a rocky outcropping and ending up overturned in the river, leaving the passenger area of the vehicle submerged. The top of the cliff is a popular campsite, but the road appears to continue right to the edge of the precipitous drop-off.

The unnamed four-wheel-drive road runs parallel to Irvine Flats Road along the river and ends at the cliff, Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Randy Owens said.

“According to what I heard about the interview [with Steffans] is that they were a bit unfamiliar with the area and just didn’t see the road ending,” he said. “The water was down quite a bit, but had the water been up, we might have never found that vehicle.”

Seth Brooks of Pablo said he was sleeping in his brother’s vehicle up the hill from the area of the incident when he was awakened around 9 a.m. Saturday morning by a man, later identified as Steffans, banging on the car window and pleading for help.

Brooks said he was startled since Steffans wore only a T-shirt and boxer shorts, was bleeding profusely and was blue and shivering. Brooks said Steffans told him he had wrecked a car over a cliff into the river, had spent the night in the chilly water and his friends still were in the vehicle.

Steffans grabbed Brooks and appeared desperate, Brooks said, leaving bloodstains on Brooks’ sweatshirt and the window of his brother’s car.

“I was freaking out and I don’t know the guy,” Brooks said. “It was a scary way to wake up.”

Brooks offered his cell phone, but had to walk up the hill to get cell reception in the isolated area.

Once the 911 dispatch center received the call around 1 p.m., dispatchers used GPS technology to identify the exact location of the scene.

By 2 p.m., people from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Tribal Police and Tribal Fish and Game, Lake County Search and Rescue, Polson Rural Fire, Polson and Ronan ambulances and Montana Highway Patrol had arrived at the scene, along with two emergency helicopters.

Steffans was flown by the ALERT helicopter to Kalispell. The Life Flight helicopter from Missoula left empty once it was confirmed the remaining victims had not survived.

The location of the accident made it difficult for emergency responders to get down to the scene and remove the victims, Polson Fire Chief John Fairchild said.

The responders hooked together a few lengths of 1-inch fire hose to use for stability, he said, before some rope was found to help people descend the cliff and approach the vehicle safely. Though the victims had been submerged for some time, Fairchild said a sense of urgency pervaded the scene and both victims were checked for pulses once removed from the wreck. He said it was unclear whether the victims had used seat belts, but extraction from the overturned car was difficult.

“We were thinking that there could have still been a pocket of air, but with the cold water, you just don’t know,” Fairchild said. “It’s a sad, sad deal, and to me there was no sense in it.”

Owens said the highway patrol would fully investigate all aspects of the incident.

“Everything is being investigated: alcohol, the whole route,” he said. “Once the investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the county attorney’s office to review and decide whether charges will be filed.”