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Crashes disrupt westside neighborhood, morning traffic

Matt Hudson | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 7 months AGO
by Matt Hudson
| April 9, 2015 6:00 PM

The sound of collision could be heard for blocks Wednesday night at the intersection of Meridian Road and Fourth Street West in Kalispell.

Many residents followed the noise and found the scene of a serious hit-and-run accident shortly before 10 p.m. By the time police arrived, one car was against a house and the other vehicle had fled.

Travis Pfankuch, who lives about a block from the intersection, ran outside after he heard the noise. He approached the scene of the accident before police arrived and saw a sport utility vehicle nose-to-nose with the car in the front yard of the house.

Pfankuch said that he heard the SUV’s wheels spinning and a crunching sound as it tried to back up and separate its bumper from the car. A passenger from the SUV was out trying to speak to the other car’s injured driver.

According to Pfankuch, the passenger got back into the SUV, the driver pulled back and they drove away. Police got the call at 9:59 p.m.

The car was left on the scene with its back rested against a house, facing outward. The boy sitting in the driver’s seat was badly injured. Pfankuch said he was a teenager who seemed as if he didn’t know where he was. Medical responders had to pry open his door and moved him on a stretcher to be taken to the hospital.

The car was heavily damaged on the driver’s side, which indicated that it was moving southbound on Meridian. Police marked off the rubber tire marks, possibly from the SUV braking, that ran westbound from Fourth Street to the center of the Meridian intersection. That was the supposed point of impact. One officer estimated the SUV might have been going as fast as 45 mph before reaching the four-way-stop.

While crews worked to clean up the scene and assess the crash, officers looked for the SUV. Witnesses had given police a license plate number.

It wasn’t a long search. 

Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset said the suspect called police after leaving the scene. There was some initial confusion as to which of the two suspects was driving, but one man eventually was arrested.

Tyler Steven Palmer, 22, was arrested on suspicion of negligent vehicular assault. He has not been formally charged yet.

Nasset said that drugs and alcohol are suspected as factors in the crash, but the incident is still under investigation.

ANOTHER SERIOUS crash took place Thursday morning. 

According to Nasset, an SUV was turning across traffic onto Four Mile Drive from U.S. 93 when it collided with an oncoming pickup truck.

One person from each vehicle was taken to the hospital following the crash. Nasset said that one person was treated and released while the other suffered serious injuries. The latter was an occupant in the SUV.

Southbound traffic on U.S. 93 was partially blocked for about 45 minutes. Nasset said that citations may be pending in the crash.

Reporter Matt Hudson may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.

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