Woman dies in accident on I-90 last week

Summer Crosby

On Friday, December 18th, the female driver who was involved in a wreck on Dec 17th, at mile marker 30, just west of St. Regis died.

Roman Zylawy from the Montana Highway Patrol said that the woman’s truck went out of control on Thursday, approaching a bridge deck over the St. Regis River. The semi was coming down Lookout pass eastbound on wet and icy roads. The tractor-trailer jack-knifed into the guardrail and travelled up onto the concrete bridge railing. It travelled on the rail approx 65 feet before falling off and down 20 feet into the St. Regis River. The vehicle climbed up on the concrete railing and skidded across the bridge before finally toppling over and down into the river. The driver was pinned against the steering wheel and was hanging upside down in her seatbelt for over an hour as St. Regis Fire worked to remove her. The woman was at first believed to be dead at the scene, but Superior Ambulance emergency medical technicians performed CPR all the way to the hospital in Superior. While there, the woman was revived and stabilized.

From Superior, she was taken to St. Pats in Missoula, but died from the injuries sustained in the crash the following day. She was 55 years old and from Oregon City, OR. The flatbed semi-trailer she was driving was bound for Wyoming and was for Bennett Motor Express out of Georgia.

Also in the truck at the time, was her 56-year-old spouse who was in the sleeper cab. He was uninjured in the crash.

Happening just a mere 25 minutes later, a second crash occurred four miles west of the first at mile marker 26 in the Ward Creek Corner. The semi was a van trailer loaded with apples from Yakima and bound for Florida. The driver, a 37-year-old male, took the turn too fast and failed to negotiate the sharp curve. The roads were wet and slick. The vehicle crashed through the guard rail and fell 60 feet down into the embankment of the St. Regis River.

Zylawy said that the truck came to rest cross wise, forming a makeshift small dam. The position of the truck helped to contain all the cardboard boxes and apples that were tossed into the water. The roof was torn from the vehicle’s roof and the trailer was torn open. The occupant of the sleeper mattress, a 40-year-old female, was left resting on the mattress atop boxes and apples.

Both of the passengers were taken to the Superior hospital with minor injuries. They were from Sayre, PA. and driving for Apergis Trucking from Tacoma, WA.

The St. Regis Fire Department and the West End Fire Department assisted with medical aid on the scene. The Mineral County Sanitarian was summoned to handle the perishable apples and the DES was notified to address the fuel leaking into the river.