UPDATE: Pedestrian struck and killed on Highway 10
UPDATED MARCH 31, 2016:
An elderly Columbus woman was hit and killed in a tragic accident on Highway 10 early Thursday morning, approximately half a mile east of Columbus.
Marian Maltsberger, 86, was found laying in the westbound lane of Highway 10 by a male motorist who was headed east at approximately 6 a.m. The male stopped his vehicle, put on his lights and started talking to Maltsberger to find out why she was laying on the road, according to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Todd Hagenbaugh.
A westbound female driver approached and because of the other vehicle’s lights, could not see Maltsberger on the road and struck her.
The female driver was a 44-year-old nurse from the Pine Crest Subdivision area who attempted CPR. Hagenbaugh said she is still “very shaken up.”
Hagenbaugh said it took several hours to identify the victim because she had no identification with her. Her identity was discovered when a family member called dispatch looking for her.
It is unknown why Maltsberger was on the road.
This marks the second fatality in Stillwater County this week. An early Monday morning roll-over on I-90 near Columbus claimed the life of a North Dakota woman who was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected. Her son was critical injured, and her husband, who was driving, also suffered injuries. The accident occurred when the husband fell asleep at the wheel as the family traveled home following a funeral. The husband was the only occupant wearing a seatbelt.
Help Delayed
The first report about Maltsberger came into dispatch at 5:06 a.m. when a Columbus man came to the Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office to report a woman was lying down in a field across from his house on 12th Street North who needed to be checked on, according to Stillwater County Dispatch records.
No one was dispatched on the call.
At 6:03 a.m. a second alert regarding Maltsberger was received by dispatch, this time coming from a female caller who said a woman was “standing in the middle of the road” on Highway 10, looking “like she didn’t know which way to go,” according to dispatch records.
Again, no one was dispatched on the call.
At 6:16 a.m. a man reported he was stopped to help Maltsberger, who was lying in the middle of the road, according to dispatch records. The man said he put his truck hazard lights on and would stay there until help arrived so that the woman wouldn’t be hit.
At 6:22 a.m. a third caller reported seeing Maltsberger get run over by another vehicle on the road. By 6:23 a.m. CPR was being performed, but dispatch records don’t indicate who was performing that.
A deputy did not arrive on scene until 6:25 a.m.
Sheriff Cliff Brophy said this week an internal investigation is being conducted to determine why help was not sent to the scene when first reported. Brophy said he does not have a timeline for when the investigation might be done as he is continuing to gather all available reports.
Also under investigation are dispatch times from the March 21 fatal roll-over accident on I-90.
In that incident, the crash was reported by two different 911 callers.
At 2:42 a.m. the first caller described what he said were “vehicle pieces all over the area” and one man walking in the area, according to dispatch records.
At 3 a.m. a second 911 caller reported the occupants were injured, one very badly. Columbus Fire Rescue was paged at that point and arrived on scene at 3:07 a.m. or 3:16 a.m.
At 3:10, one of the 911 callers reported one person was underneath the vehicle and apparently deceased. MHP arrived on scene at 3:25 a.m. Columbus Fire Rescue left with the two men at 3:41 a.m. The coroner was summoned at 3:41 a.m. Killed was Kathleen Striffler, a 53-year-old from Rexburg, Idaho.
Glenn Striffler, her adult son, was seriously injured and flown to a Billings hospital. Henry Striffler, 68, suffered minor injuries and was taken to the Stillwater Billings Clinic.