Cellphone blamed for 3-vehicle crash near Polson

A 54-year-old Columbia Falls man and two other drivers are lucky they weren’t killed in a horrific three-vehicle crash north of Polson on Feb. 25 that could have been caused by cellphone use. All three drivers were wearing seat belts.

According to the Montana Highway Patrol, a northbound 1990 Subaru station wagon was stopped on U.S. 93 near the bottom of Jette Hill around 9:26 a.m. waiting for oncoming traffic to pass in order to make a left-hand turn onto Partridge Trail.

A northbound 2004 Ford Crown Victoria reportedly rear-ended the Subaru, pushing it off the highway into a ditch. The Ford then rotated clockwise into the southbound lane, where it was hit by a red Chevy Silverado pickup towing a trailer loaded with irrigation pipes. The Ford was split in half.

The driver of the pickup truck, who was from Columbia Falls, and the driver of the Subaru, a 46-year-old man from Polson, were transported to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, in Polson, for treatment of minor injuries.

The driver of the Ford, a 32-year-old man from Big Arm, was not hospitalized with injuries, despite the condition of the vehicle — the roof was missing, and the drive shaft was protruding into the passenger compartment.

Tribal police, however, transported the Big Arm man to the medical center for a blood draw after suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia were found inside the Ford.

The Big Arm man also was talking on his cellphone when the wreck occurred, reporting the theft of items from his property to a Lake County sheriff’s deputy.

The Big Arm man, who is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, could face felony drug charges along with charges of DUI, reckless driving and following too closely.