A Montana Tragedy--Denton Auto Accident

[LTown Cat]

I felt this deserved a thread on here. I personally knew these kids and this is an absolute tragedy. Reminds you of just how fragile our existence is.

Anything anybody on here can do for these families or to these charities/groups listed would be appreciated.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/p ... GECAROUSEL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SonomaCat]

Thanks for posting that in honor of those kids. The articles I read in the Tribune brought tears to my eyes as I thought through how awful this is for the families, the Denton community, and the entire central Montana community. Some things just are flat-out unfair. This is certainly one of them.

[Billings_Griz]

Gut-wrenching.

God Bless all involved.

As a father of three, I couldn't imagine.

[cat-o-nine]

My home town. Went to school with the Jelinek kid's dad (Ed). My folks and a sister still live there. A major kick in the guts for all of us.

[AlphaGriz1]

My prayers go out to the familes and friends involved.

Stuff like this always pisses me off when it happens to good people and OJ is still running around on a golf course in Florida.

I would gladly trade OJ for these kids lives back in a second.

[RedCat]

Just a terrible deal for the town of Denton and Central MT in general, not to mention the families. Sounds like the funeral will definitely be well attended. I've heard of at least a couple area schools who are considering taking buses over. It's amazing how tight knit the schools in Central MT are. All of the kids know each other nowadays which wasn't really the case when I was in high school.

[LTown Cat]

There is a great article in the Lewistown paper today about the heroics of the first people on the scene, etc. I'll post it as soon as it is on their website.

[LTown Cat]

Here is the stuff from the Lewistown paper:

http://www.lewistownnews.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.lewistownnews.com/news1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Billings_Griz]

A Central Montana tragedy

4 Denton teens lost in Saturday accident

by DAVID MURRAY
News-Argus Staff Writer




On the morning of Saturday, July 19, six young men from Denton were looking forward to playing basketball in a summer league tournament. They climbed inside the 2000 Buick LaSabre sedan that was to take them the 38 miles into Lewistown. It started out as just an ordinary trip down Hwy. 81 for a day of summer fun.

Within minutes, the day that had promised to be so enjoyable turned to tragedy. On a long, gradual bend in the highway near the Deerfield Hutterite Colony, the driver of the car lost control of the vehicle. In the aftermath of the following accident, three families struggle to come to grips with the devastating deaths of their young sons, and a Central Montana community reels from a common feeling of loss.

A press release from the Fergus County Coroner’s Office states, “…at approximately 10:15 hours on Highway 81, approximately 12 miles east of Denton… a one-vehicle accident claimed the lives of Jace E. Jelinek, 17, Dayne Heble, 14, and brothers Kale Phelps, 17, and Kade Phelps, 14, all of Denton. Jelinek, Heble and Kale Phelps died at the scene. Kade Phelps was transported to the Central Montana Medical Center in Lewistown where he died a short time later.”

According to Montana Highway Patrolman Scott Fox, none of the normal factors that routinely sum up the calculus of highway fatalities played a role that day.

“Alcohol was not a factor,” Fox said. “There is no indication of excessive speed – they were traveling within a realistic range of the posted speed limit. Seatbelt use was not a significant factor. Two of the victims who died were not wearing their seat belts, two of the victims had their seatbelts on.”

In short, there was nothing the boys were doing at the time that could be considered inappropriate or negligent.

“This was a relatively simple accident,” Fox continued, “it just resulted in a very devastating crash. The road there has a very gradual curve to the left. The driver went straight for a brief second and left the road surface. He then over-corrected and crossed both lanes of traffic. The vehicle then slipped sideways, impacted an up-slope and began to roll. It first impacted on its roof and crushed it down.”

Fox said the LaSabre the young men were riding in caught fire soon after the accident. He affirmed that all three young men who died at the scene were killed instantaneously. They died due to the impact of the crash and did not perish in the subsequent fire.

Two young men survived the accident that day. Because they are both just 14 years old, the MHP has declined to release their identities. According to Denton resident Rick Rice, who came upon the accident moments after it occurred, one was able to free himself from the wreckage under his own power. The other survivor’s life was saved when Rice climbed into the burning vehicle to free him from his seat belt. Both were treated at the hospital for their injuries and released.

Emergency response vehicles from throughout the area responded to the accident. The coroner’s press release listed Central Montana Medical Center Ambulance, Denton Ambulance and Fire, Hilger Fire, Lewistown Fire/Rescue, the Fergus County Sheriff’s Office, Montana Highway Patrol and the Fergus County Coroner’s Office as all responding to the scene.

Dan Stahl, a member of the Hilger Rural Fire District that responded to the accident, commented on the number of accidents that routinely occur on that stretch of highway.

“Just from the top of the hill where the missile site is at, on one side of the colony, to the top of the hill where the other missile sits is about four miles,” Stahl said. “There’s been quite a few accidents on there – I think we’ve counted 17.”

Rice concurred with Stahl’s observation.
“It’s a bad stretch of road and it needs to be fixed,” he said.

[Billings_Griz]

Those first to respond show heroism in a time of tragedy

by DAVID MURRAY
News-Argus Staff Writer


EDIT: THE EDITOR IS NOT KIDDING...IT'LL BRING A TEAR TO YOUR EYE.

Editor’s Note: The following story contains some painful details about Saturday’s accident. We include them only to call attention to the bravery of the people who responded to a very dangerous situation.



There are events that shake our confidence in the justice of this world and leave us to bend our heads in solemn disbelief. The question “why?” rides heavy in our mouths like a hard, jagged stone that drops from our tongues to the ground with an unsatisfying thud and offers no answers.

The deaths of the four Denton youth in Saturday’s accident is one such event.

What follows are the personal accounts of two men who witnessed what happened at the Denton accident scene.

The first on the scene

Driving just a few miles behind the six young men traveling east on Hwy. 81 Saturday morning, Denton resident Rick Rice was headed into town to run some errands. He was the first person to come upon the accident scene. Rice said he did not witness the wreck, but estimates he arrived about 30 seconds after the collision.

“When I got there, the front of the car was on fire,” Rice said. “The car was on its top. You could see the smoke and flames coming out of the engine compartment. I went running down there and that’s when I saw the first boy coming out the back window. He crawled out himself. I grabbed a hold of him and got him to his feet and up to the road. He told me there were more in the car, so I ran back and looked in the rear window where he had crawled out and the other boy was there.”

Rice spoke slowly as he told his story.

“I grabbed his arms and started pulling. He told me that his seat belt was still on. By this time the car was half engulfed in flames. I went into the car - I had no choice. I found his seat belt button and I just prayed it would release and it did. He dropped down and I crawled out and grabbed a hold of him and drug him out of the car. I got him probably 10 feet - 15 feet away from the car and that’s when the whole car was engulfed in flames.”

The Buick LaSabre burned quickly. Based upon seeing the one boy crawling out and the speed of the fire, Rice estimates the car ignited within 10 seconds of impact.

“My guess is, if I had been 30 seconds later coming down the road that I would not have been able to get the boy out of the car because it spread so fast,” he said. “When I first got there it was just the front of the car on fire. By the time I got him out of the car the whole car was engulfed in flames. It spread that fast.”

Montana Highway Patrolman Scott Fox would later say that Rice’s quick actions saved the young man’s life. As Rice struggled to get the youth away from the burning vehicle, another car pulled up to the scene.

“That’s when Greg Johnston and his brother Marlin showed,” Rice said. “I yelled ‘I need help to get him away from the fire.’ Marlin got on the phone to 911. Greg came down and we drug him up to the road.”

After checking the severity of the young man’s injuries, Rice ran back to the burning vehicle, where another boy lay motionless on the ground.

“Kade Phelps was thrown from the car,” Rice said, his voice cracking with emotion. “He was still breathing, but he was only 10 feet away from the back of the car. I tried to shelter him as much as I could from the heat, but it was extremely hot. That’s when I yelled for Greg and Marlin to come back.”

The burning vehicle had ignited the surrounding grass. As Rice cradled the severely injured young man in his arms, the flames burned closer to where they sat.

“We put our six arms underneath him and moved him away from the fire,” Rice said, and then he added. “I wasn’t going to leave him. I wasn’t going to leave him there.”

The accident victims who were conscious and safe from the flames told the three men that there were six passengers in the car. Rice and the two Johnstons began to franticly search for any other survivors.

“We found Kade’s older brother Kale and checked him, but he was – he was already gone.”

Rice’s voice cracked and he paused for a moment to steady himself.

“We couldn’t find anybody else and we knew they were in the car. There was nothing that we could do. I stayed with the young Phelps boy – talking with him. He was still breathing but he wasn’t conscious. All I could do was just talk to him and comfort him. I just stayed with Kade until the ambulance got there. And then I was just numb from there on.”

Help arrives

Lewistown 911 call logs show that Lewistown Fire/Rescue received Marlin Johnston’s call for help at 10:13 a.m. But even before that emergency cell phone call, a first responder team was headed to the accident site from the nearby Deerfield Hutterite Colony. The colony maintains a unit of the Hilger Rural Fire District on their property. Within minutes of the accident, several of the members had spotted smoke coming from an area to the north of the colony.

Deerfield Colony member and first responder Dan Stahl said the fire crew immediately responded to what they thought was probably some farm equipment on fire. He estimated the accident location was about three to four miles from where they were working outside.

“When we saw the smoke from our place, we figured it was the neighbor’s baler or swather or something – we better go,” Stahl said.

The colony fire crew sent a second vehicle out to a point that overlooks the highway, hoping to spot the area where the smoke was coming from.

“The guys that went down that road came back and said, ‘It’s not a baler – it’s an accident,” Stahl recalled.

The tanker truck the colony sent was the first emergency vehicle to arrive at the accident site. As the truck crested the hill the crew came upon a scene of crisis and heartbreak.

“I’ve seen accidents,” Stahl said, “but not something like that. I don’t care how many fire trucks you could have had there - there was nothing you could do. The smoke was coal black.”

In addition to the accident victims who needed immediate medical attention, the fire was quickly spreading toward an adjacent coulee and had to be put out before it created an even greater hazard.

“If nobody would have been there in time – the breeze was heading down the coulee, which would not have been good,” Stahl said.

As much of the crew started to douse the flames, Stahl worked to help the injured. He went to the aid of the young man whom Rice had saved from the burning vehicle.

“I asked him how he was,” Stahl said. “He said he was pretty good, but he was bleeding badly. I sent our vehicle back home to get a bucket of water and some nice towels to clean his face so he could see. I asked him if he knew what happened. He said, ‘I don’t know anything – I can’t remember anything.”

The other young man who had been able to crawl from the accident on his own was also being attended to.

“The other kid called one of our guys that had come down to help,” Stahl said “He called him and he said, ‘Is this a dream – or is this real?’ Pete said ‘I’m sorry son – it’s real.’ The kid fell apart. I guess that’s what the shock does.”

“Young people from town started coming in when they heard about it,” Stahl recalled. “Firefighters from Denton and Lewistown were there and they stopped them. They told them ‘You can not go beyond this mark on the highway. You have to stay back, the highway was closed.”

The final scene

Within that closed stretch of highway 81, Rick Rice and the other responders remained until the survivors were loaded onto ambulances and the blazing car and grass were extinguished.

Sadly, Kade Phelps, the young man who Rice cradled in his arms, died after reaching the hospital. Rice stayed with him until emergency responders carried him away to the waiting ambulance.

“If there was a good thing out of this, it was the two who did survive,” Rice said. “I just feel so horrible for the families. I know that it’s out of our hands. That was God’s decision not ours. I just pray for them. They’re going to have a tough time ahead of them.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Old Skool Cat]

It was extremely hard not to shed a tear after hearing about the news, and then reading these articles. As a father of two, I just can't imagine a parent having to go through an ordeal such as this. My prayers are with those families, survivors, and people who responded to the accident scene. It makes you realize how precious, yet fraile, life really is.

[Billings_Griz]

For you locals up there:

Deerfield Colony member and first responder Dan Stahl said the fire crew immediately responded to what they thought was probably some farm equipment on fire. He estimated the accident location was about three to four miles from where they were working outside.

I wonder if this gentleman is related to Lillian Stahl, the nurse taken tragicaly here in Billings (the kid just plead guilty, goin to Deer Lodge). She was from a colony near Lewistown.

[SonomaCat]

It could well be ... although I'm not sure how closely related they would be. I think about half of that colony has that last name. I'm not trying to be funny, but it seriously seems that way -- it's a really, really common area among the Hutterites in Central Montana, and I am assuming most are from that particular colony.

[cat-o-nine]

Rick Rice is a hero, but I'm sure he'd rather not be, if you know what I mean. He is going to be dealing with this for the rest of his life. One of my older sisters graduated with him. Think I'll send him a card. What an incredibly sad event.

BAC is correct on the Stahl name. There are dozens of them in the colonies.

This corner where this accident occurred also claimed the life of a girl from Denton when I was a senior in H.S. She was a Junior. It really isn't even one of the more dangerous one's on the route. One of the other ones just a couple miles down the road towards Lewistown has always been ominously referred to as "deadman's curve" .

Strange that so many accidents are happening at this relatively benign spot.

[SonomaCat]

I agree -- it's not a great road at all (my family spends a lot of time driving between Winifred and Denton). It's a really pretty drive, but it's still pretty narrow and has some curves on it that must date back to the old days because there doesn't appear to be any reason for them to be there.

Perhaps if any silver lining can be found in such a sad situation it will be to spur some fixes to this road to reduce the chance of things like this happening again in the future.

[vike_king]

Thanks for sharing that article with us...........................damnit!

[Platinumcat]

Last weekend we were in Stanford attending it's Centennial celebration. We were sitting on main street waiting for the parade to begin when word spread throughout the crowd (2000-3000). High school kids were running about and crying. You couldn't find someone in that town that weekend who didn't know one of the kids/families involved.
One of our conversations centered around how these communities may go by different names, but it's almost like they're a part of a larger webbing that incorporates them all in to one as so many from each town know one another.

Terrible sad event......our family's prayers go to everyone and their pain.

[LTown Cat]

Last weekend we were in Stanford attending it's Centennial celebration. We were sitting on main street waiting for the parade to begin when word spread throughout the crowd (2000-3000). High school kids were running about and crying. You couldn't find someone in that town that weekend who didn't know one of the kids/families involved.
One of our conversations centered around how these communities may go by different names, but it's almost like they're a part of a larger webbing that incorporates them all in to one as so many from each town know one another.

Terrible sad event......our family's prayers go to everyone and their pain.

The funeral/memorial was today. Stanford, Winifred, and Winnett all sent bus loads of kids/people to it. There may have even been others. Great showing of support--those kids deserved it.

[LTown Cat]

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/p ... GECAROUSEL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/p ... GECAROUSEL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A couple of articles from today's Tribune about the memorial if anyone wanted to read them.

[cat-o-nine]

Thanks, Ltown.

I just got a call from my buddy in Geyser - his boys went to the memorial. What a great showing of support with all of the Central Montana Communities being represented. The Great Falls Tribune has a real nice photo album of the memorial as well.