Alcohol a factor in fatal wreck near downtown

Results from a toxicology test show alcohol was a factor in a fatal wreck last month near downtown Whitefish.

According to Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial, tests show that Bozeman resident Endsley Barrett, 33, had consumed alcohol and caffeine prior to wrecking a stolen BNSF Railway vehicle into a tree on Wisconsin Avenue. No other substances were detected in the tests, Dial said.

According to police, Barrett was in town to attend a wedding and she spent the evening of Sept. 27 drinking at a few bars.

That night Barrett walked to the downtown Whitefish Depot where she saw a crew with BNSF Railway getting into a work shuttle that she thought was a taxi. The railway crew informed her it wasn’t a taxi service.

Police said she then took a BNSF-owned Suburban from the depot and sped north over the viaduct on Wisconsin Avenue.

Barrett hit the curb on the east side of the street then swerved to the west before colliding head-on with a tree and sign for the Chair 3 apartments.

She was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center where she died as a result of injuries sustained in the wreck, Dial said.