The spray paint on Golf View Drive shows where the Audi sedan left the roadway after failing to negotiate a left corner.
SEELEY LAKE – Three men were involved in a single-vehicle rollover car accident May 5 around 8:15 p.m. on Golf View Drive near Double Arrow Golf Course. Passenger Michael Haley, 48 of Seeley Lake, was ejected. He was transported to Missoula but later died from his injuries. The other two in the vehicle sustained non-life threatening injuries. The accident is still under investigation.
According to investigating Highway Patrol Trooper Wes Whitlatch, an Audi sedan was northbound on Golf View Drive. The 21-year-old driver from Seeley Lake failed to negotiate a left curve and ran off the roadway to the left. The vehicle vaulted over a grassy incline, went airborne and overturned. In the process the front seat passenger was ejected through the front passenger window.
Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane said eight volunteer fire and medical personnel responded to the accident. They transported Haley via ambulance to Clearwater Junction where they met Life Flight. He was life flighted to Missoula.
"Response times were well within our guidelines," said Lane. "We had a great response from the volunteers."
Whitlatch said at least two of the occupants in the vehicle appeared to have been unrestrained: the front passenger who was ejected and a 17-year-old passenger in the back seat who remained with the vehicle.
Alcohol and speed are suspected to be the main factor in the crash. The driver, 21-year-old Micah Nicholas of Seeley Lake, was charged with one felony count of vehicular homicide while under the influence.
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