Bigfork man sentenced for crashing into bus

 Daniel G. Fellows of Bigfork received a deferred sentence last week for running his truck, while driving drunk, into a Polson school bus.

Lake County District Court Judge James A. Manley sentenced Fellows to six years in prison, which were deferred for each of two counts of felony criminal endangerment. Fellows, 19, received six months in jail with all but 10 days suspended for one charge of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol, according to Lake County Court records.

Fellows was arrested May 11 after he drove his full-size pickup truck into the back of a stopped Polson School District bus at 78-miles-per hour on Fulkerson Corner on Montana Highway 35 near Polson.

At the time of impact, a Polson School District student was in the process of unloading from the bus and was caught by the motion of the impact and thrown several feet away by the bus.

In all, 10 or 11 students were transported to area hospitals for treatment. Three of those students were transported by ambulance. Remaining students were transported to area hospitals by private vehicle on the recommendation of school district personnel.

All students were treated and released within a few hours, Rosenbaum said.

Fellows was transported to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula where he was treated and released, then cited with three counts of felony criminal endangerment, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Terry Rosenbaum said.