A 23-year-old Whitefish man died for unknown reasons Monday night while driving north of Kalispell on U.S. 93, according to officials.
Officials at the State Crime Lab in Missoula will try to determine the cause of death of a young man who was found unresponsive inside a vehicle that drifted off the road near the KOA Campground between Kalispell and Whitefish.
Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the death could be related to a “medical event” and is not being ruled a traffic fatality due to evidence on scene. The victim’s name has not been released. The body was transported to the State Crime Lab Tuesday for an autopsy.
The Montana Highway Patrol was notified around 8 p.m. of an unresponsive male in a sport-utility vehicle in the ditch along the east side of U.S. 93. The individual was alone in the vehicle. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead shortly afterward at North Valley Hospital, according to Montana Highway Patrol Trooper John Underwood.
The victim’s vehicle, a 1996 Ford Explorer, appeared to have slowly drifted off the right lane of the highway, according to Underwood. It did not have significant damage and the airbags did not deploy, Curry said.
The man was wearing a seatbelt. The crash is under investigation.