Sunday crash claims lives of two Libby men

Two men involved in a single-car, alcohol-related accident on Pipe Creek Road Sunday evening have died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

In a press release issued Wednesday, Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said 31-year-old Tyler Ruhter died at Kalispell Regional Medical Center and that the other adult passenger, Joseph Barnes, remained in critical condition.

The situation changed Wednesday evening, and Bowe announced Thursday morning that Barnes had also succumbed to his injuries.

“The male passenger, Joseph Wesley Barnes, age 39, died yesterday evening, Sept. 9, 2015, at Kalispell Regional Medical Center of injuries sustained in the crash.”

According to Bowe, 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 drive was traveling northbound, failed to negotiate a left curve properly, overcorrected and lost control,” Bowe wrote in the first release, dated Sept. 7. “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.