Accident shuts down part of U.S. 2
Jesse Davis | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 8 months AGO
<p>First responders from the Evergreen Fire Department work to extract a passenger from a rolled-over vehicle on U.S. 2 in Evergreen Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Evergreen Fire Chief Craig Williams, left, was the incident commander at the scene of a rollover accident Friday afternoon in Evergreen, south of the intersection of U.S. 2 and Cottonwood Drive. The Evergreen Fire Department was joined by members of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department and the Montana Highway Patrol.</p>
One person was injured in a two-vehicle accident on U.S. 2 in Evergreen that shut down half the highway Friday afternoon.
The collision tipped a Chevy Trailblazer on its side in the middle of the busy highway after it was struck by a Chevy Silverado pickup truck.
A passenger in the Trailblazer had to be extricated from the wreckage.
The driver of the Trailblazer, a woman who lives on Foothill Road, said she was pulling out of the McDonald’s drive-through with her 71-year-old grandmother next to her and her 3-year-old son in the back seat when she looked down the road.
She saw a pair of vehicles with their turn signals on and decided to pull out to the center turn lane.
She had not, however, seen the pickup truck behind the two vehicles.
The woman said as she pulled into the road, the truck changed lanes and struck the driver’s side of the vehicle and rolled it onto its passenger side. She and her son were able to climb out of the vehicle, but her grandmother had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life.
The driver said her grandmother had suffered a stroke in her early 30s and had some paralysis on her left side, making it harder for her to get out of the vehicle.
Emergency responders cut open the roof of the vehicle to get to the woman, who had possibly sustained a broken arm.
Evergreen Fire Rescue, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Montana Highway Patrol responded to the accident, which occurred at about 3 p.m.
All southbound traffic on U.S. 2 was diverted down Cottonwood Drive, while northbound traffic was allowed to pass through, but was backed up to the intersection of U.S. 2 and Montana 35.