One Killed in Montana Prison Employee Bus Crash

[Greg]

One killed in prison employee bus crash | Great Falls Tribune

By AMY BETH HANSON
Associated Press Writer


AP PHOTO/MONTANA STANDARD, WALTER HINICK
Wrecker crews try to right the wreckage of a bus that crashed on Interstate 90 near Galen on its way to the Montana State Prison on Friday morning. One person died in the crash.

HELENA — A bus carrying about two dozen state prison employees struck a deer and overturned early Friday on a highway near Warm Springs, killing one person and injuring several others, authorities said.

The bus, which was carrying 26 employees to work at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, rolled over about 5:30 a.m. on Interstate 90, about 15 miles from the prison.

The bus, owned by Butte-based Tucker Transportation, came to rest on its side in the median between the two lanes of the interstate. Its fiberglass frame was crumpled and it took two tow trucks to right it.
Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Rodger Kenney said a front tire of the bus hit the deer, but it was unclear if the tire rolled over the animal. Kenney said it appeared the driver struggled to control the bus for a time before it overturned. He doesn't expect any charges to be filed.

"It was a simple deer crash that turned chaotic," Kenney said.

The victim was identified as Sonja Ryan, 56, of Butte. Ryan had worked for the state since 1981, said Bob Anez, spokesman for the Montana Department of Corrections.

She started as a psychiatric aide at the Montana State Hospital and later worked in the laundry. She transferred to the Montana Women's Prison in 1990 as a correctional officer and joined the Montana State Prison staff in 1994, where she worked as administrative support in the records department.

Several ambulances and two helicopters transported the injured passengers to hospitals across Western Montana. The victims suffered head injuries, broken bones and cuts, said Anaconda Police detective Bill Sather, who was at the scene of the crash.

The last of the injured were on their way to area hospitals within an hour of the crash, Sather said.

By Friday afternoon, 16 prison employees remained hospitalized and nine had been treated and released, Anez said.

"There seem to be a lot of orthopedic-type injuries" consisting of broken or crushed bones, said Judiann Williams, director of emergency services at St. James Hospital in Butte.

The bus driver was hospitalized at St. James Hospital with a broken leg, said Tom McGree, co-owner of Tucker Transportation.

McGree said he met with families of the victims at St. James Hospital and told them, "We at Tucker Transportation feel really bad. If there is anything we can do to help, day or night, we're available."

Tucker Transportation has been contracted by the state for about 19 months to transport Butte and Anaconda prison employees to and from the state prison, according to state officials.

Mike Ferriter, Corrections director, said in a statement that the bus system was implemented to improve safety and convenience for employees who worked at the prison but did not live in Deer Lodge. The bus was partially subsidized by the department.

"This is a terrible tragedy for all of us in Corrections," Ferriter said. "Our hearts go out to the staff in the accident and to their families."

Prison Warden Mike Mahoney expressed gratitude for the response by law enforcement and medical personnel from Powell County and Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, as well as staff from the prison infirmary and other prison employees driving to work who stopped to assist at the scene.

Mahoney said existing staff at the prison stayed beyond their regular shifts to ensure all posts were covered. He said the facility, which has about 1,380 inmates and 630 employees, is operating normally and securely.

Associated Press Writer Len Iwanski in Helena contributed to this report.

[Greg]

Prison bus crash | The Montana Standard
By John Grant Emeigh, of The Montana Standard - 11/18/2007

Lisa Muhammad describes her experience on Saturday afternoon of the accident that occured Friday morning involving a prison employee transport bus. Muhammad, of Butte, was the first nurse on the scene of the accident. John Grant Emeigh / The Montana Standard.

As a nurse, Lisa Muhammad is used to patients being brought to her at the hospital.

But Friday morning, she drove herself to the patients.

Muhammad’s normally quiet morning commute to work from Butte to Deer Lodge on Interstate-90 exploded into chaos that morning when she drove up on a major bus accident.

“There were bodies everywhere,” she recalled Saturday.

Muhammad was the first nurse to the scene of the accident that left 25 people injured and one person dead.

She was driving to Powell County Medical Center when she first noticed the flashing lights from police and ambulance officials from a distance, and decided she should stop. That’s when she saw just how bad it was.

Injured people were lying in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of the interstate.

“I just started checking everyone to see who was breathing and who was seriously hurt,” she said.

She noticed four people were critically injured and immediately contacted the hospital to call for a medical helicopter.

Muhammad and a crew of emergency medical technicians from Anaconda did their best to get the seriously injured in the ambulances to transport to local hospitals. Soon, Muhammad said more nurses from her hospital and the Montana State Hospital showed up to help.

“It was like the cavalry arrived,” she said.

The bus was taking 26 Montana State Prison employees west in the interstate about 5:30 a.m. when it struck a deer. The driver lost control and the bus rolled over in the median.

Sonja L. Ryan, 56, of Butte, died in the crash.

Michael Walsh, chief executive officer of the hospital in Deer Lodge, commended nurses who responded to the accident scene. He said doctors, nurses and hospital staff were all called in and prepared for this “mass casualty” situation.

“We had a ratio of one doctor for every two patients,” he said.

He said all the local hospitals and staff did a great job.

Walsh remembered seeing a little girl in the hospital waiting room crying for her injured father. He saw that same girl laughing with her father after he was treated.

“That makes what we do worth it,” Walsh said as his voice cracked with emotion.

Muhammad said that was one of the worst accidents she witnesses in her 10 years of nursing. She applauded all the emergency responders, nurses, doctors and law enforcement personnel who worked that tragic accident.

— Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via e-mail at john.emeigh@lee.net or by telephone, 496-5511.