Three injured in alcohol-related crash

A single-car, alcohol-related accident on Pipe Creek Road Sunday evening left two area men in critical condition while a juvenile passenger received non-life-threatening injuries.

In a press release issued Monday morning, Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said the vehicle, a 2004 Ford pickup truck, was heading northbound on Pipe Creek Road near mile marker three north of Libby when the driver apparently lost control after overcorrecting from a missed turn.

“It appears the driver was traveling northbound, failed to negotiate a left curve properly, overcorrected and lost control,” Bowe wrote in the release. “The vehicle rolled over multiple times. None of the occupants were wearing seatbelts, and all three were ejected from the vehicle during the rollover. Alcohol was a contributing factor in this crash.”

Sheriff’s deputies, Libby Volunteer Ambulance, Advanced Life Support, Life Flight helicopter and the Montana Highway Patrol were dispatched to the scene.

The driver of the vehicle, 31-year-old Tyler Ruhter, along with 39-year-old Joseph Wesley Barnes, a passenger, were flown to Kalispell Regional Hospital and are both listed in critical condition. A second passenger, a 13-year-old boy, sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Montana Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.