C-Falls man gets 21 years for Evergreen crash
A 29-year-old Columbia Falls man was sentenced to 21 years in prison, all suspended, for his role in a Jan. 19, 2013, crash in Evergreen that seriously injured a passenger in the second vehicle.
Sean West initially was charged with two counts of negligent endangerment, two counts of criminal endangerment and one count of failure to remain at the scene of an accident. He faced up to 10 years for each count.
On Feb. 12, a jury in Flathead Count District Court convicted West of one count negligent endangerment and one count criminal endangerment and of fleeing the scene of the accident, all felonies.
Judge Heidi Ulbricht sentenced West on July 10. Sentencing was delayed because Ulbricht was unable to get the medical payment history needed to determine restitution, and West was unable to get a required chemical dependency evaluation. The evaluator recommended no treatment.
Ulbricht sentenced West to eight years in prison for negligent vehicular assault and for criminal endangerment and another five years in prison for failing to remain at the scene of the accident.
All the prison time was concurrent and suspended except for the 77 days West spent in the county jail. He was also ordered to pay $39,371 to the Progressive insurance company for medical costs and $2,561 to the owner of the vehicle he hit.
According to a Montana Highway Patrol investigation and eyewitnesses, West’s sport-utility vehicle was traveling northbound on U.S. 2 at a high rate of speed when it ran a red light at East Reserve Drive and T-boned another vehicle.
A man sitting in the back seat of the second vehicle was ejected and flew about 63 feet. He was transported to Kalispell Regional Medical Center after sustaining several injuries, including a lacerated liver.
An eyewitness reported seeing West start to run away. She said she told him to stop, but he replied, “I can’t do this.” West later contacted a sheriff’s dispatcher to say where he was and to leave a contact number.
When the investigating MHP trooper talked to West, he allegedly admitted he had drank six to eight beers, ran the red light, got scared and ran away. A blood sample showed West’s blood-alcohol content was 0.143.
West’s past criminal history includes several misdemeanor charges, including possession of drug paraphernalia, two MIPs and two no insurance charges.
In court, he told Judge Ulbricht that the incident had changed his life and he had been sober ever since. His employer at an excavating company said he would continue to employ West if he could travel to work in Williston, N.D.