Bigfork man crashes into Polson school bus

Daniel G. Fellows, 19, of Bigfork, was arrested after he drove his pickup truck into the back of a stopped and unloading Polson School District bus at 78 miles per hour Monday.

The crash occurred at about 4:15 p.m. about three miles east of Polson on Montana 35.

At the time of impact, a Polson School District student was stepping off the bus and was caught by the motion of the impact and thrown several feet away by the bus, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Terry Rosenbaum said.

Rosenbaum said 10 or 11 students were transported to local hospitals for treatment. Three of those students were transported by ambulance while the other 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.

Authorities believe the bus was equipped with working video equipment that recorded the direct rear-end impact of the crash.

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

Fellows appeared before Lake County Justice Court Judge Randal Owens Tuesday.

About 30 minutes before the crash, travelers driving northbound on U.S. 93 near St. Ignatius began calling Lake County emergency dispatchers to inform law enforcement that a reckless driver in a white Chevy truck was traveling at a high rate of speed, making dangerous passes and nearly forcing another commercial vehicle off the road, Rosenbaum said.

That driver was later spotted illegally passing a stopped Polson School District bus that was also unloading students in Polson about a mile north of the Highway 93 and Montana 35 intersection.

After the crash occurred, investigators learned that Fellows was the reckless driver and the driver who rear-ended the stopped school bus, Rosenbaum said.

Rosenbaum said Fellows admitted he was traveling with his cruise control set at 78 miles per hour when he hit the bus.  

Alcohol is a factor in the crash, but toxicology reports are not complete, Rosenbaum said.

Fellows’ father broke into tears just before his son arrived to appear before Lake County Justice Court Judge Randal Owens by way of a video camera set up at a jailhouse holding cell.

Owens read Fellows his rights, assigned a public defender, explained the three charges waged against him and set Fellows’ bond at $10,000 along with a mandatory alcohol tracking device.

Lake County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Eschenbacher said that Fellows was within seconds of killing a student getting off the first bus.

Fellows faces a term of 10 years in jail and a $50,000 for each felony endangerment charge.