Rehberg: Boat's driver did not look impaired before crash

Daily Inter Lake/Associated Press

U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg says the driver of the boat that crashed into the rocky Flathead Lake shore, seriously injuring all five aboard, did not appear impaired.

Authorities have said the driver, state Sen. Greg Barkus, was drinking the evening before the late-night crash Aug. 27 that left the boat perched on the steep rocky shore. But Flathead County prosecutors have not released the driver's blood-alcohol level yet, although they have said they are weighing felony charges.

Rehberg says he believes his two injured staffers, Dustin Frost and Kristen Smith, eventually will be able to return to work. The most seriously hurt, state director Frost, is improving from a brain injury but still is hospitalized at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Rehberg says he remembers Barkus commenting on how dark it was that evening, and adjusting his navigation system before they hit the shore.

When asked during a telephone press conference Wednesday if Barkus seemed impaired that night, Rehberg responded: "No, absolutely not. It would be like me talking to you right now. We can all second-guess ourselves, but I saw no impairment at all."

Rehberg also related details about the scene immediately following the crash.

"I did not lose consicousness, although I was rolling around like a rag doll, bruised up all over my body," he said.

He said he and Kathy Barkus remained in the boat after it landed in the rocks, while Frost and Greg Barkus were in the water on the rocks. "I got myself out and into the water and onto shore," Rehberg recalled, despite a badly injured ankle.

Smith, Rehberg's deputy chief of staff "was the most cognizant" immediately after the accident and helped point victims out to rescuers.

For more on this story, read Thursday's Daily Inter Lake.