Disaster avoided on Highway 2

A man’s quick thinking may have avoided a disastrous head-on collision Tuesday evening after a woman apparently passed out and veered into his lane about 22 miles south of Libby on Highway 2.

Donald Evans, 58, veered into the left lane to avoid hitting 45-year-old Lynn Russo’s car, causing the vehicles to sideswipe each other on the passenger side.

“If Mr. Evans hadn’t taken the action he did it would have been a far worse crash,” said Bruce Broden of the Montana Highway Patrol.

Libby and Fisher River ambulances transported four people to St. John’s Lutheran Hospital, according to Tony Bacon, Fisher River Valley Fire and Rescue battalion chief and the incident commander. One required a paramedic but was not in critical condition, while the other three suffered only minor injuries, according to Bacon.

Russo suffered some kind of medical episode, Broden said, that caused her to become disoriented as she was driving east with two children and an adult passenger in her Geo Metro. When she came-to, she was driving straight toward a Dodge Caravan carrying Evans and his wife and child.

The doors to one of the vehicles would not open, so Fisher River Valley Fire and Rescue used the “Jaws of Life” to reach passengers, Bacon said. ALERT helicopter responded because one woman, who was a recent surgery patient, was suspected to be in critical condition. However, the on-scene paramedic stabilized her and determined that she did not need to be airlifted.