Description
BOZEMAN — After a vehicle collision on Highway 191 left two people dead and five injured Tuesday morning, community members came together to create a GoFundMe to support the families of the crew members impacted.
Watch the story here:
"I had a feeling, and I called my dad. I called him three times and he didn’t answer. And that’s kind of when I knew something was wrong," says Nicole Farias.
Nicole is the daughter of Juan Farias, one of the two men killed in the crash involving two pickup trucks.
"I had just talked to him the day before. He had just sent me some money. I had just picked up the money he sent me, not knowing that he was gone already by that time," she says.
Juan Farias, 55, and 22-year-old Oscar Jacuinde were two of three passengers in the GMC truck that, according to the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP), lost control on icy roads and struck a Dodge truck traveling in the opposite direction.
The MHP accident report states that road conditions and speed may have been factors in the accident.
According to the victims’ employer, Paradigm Contractors, the third GMC passenger who survived the crash was Oscar’s older brother—they all lived in Belgrade.
"Oscar was a leader. Everybody loved working with him, around him. Everybody wanted to be on his crew. Armando was a long-time professional," says Paradigm's Kurtis Steed.
Both men were on the flatwork crew for Paradigm, and Juan, known as Armando among friends, had been with the crew since 2017.
"It was a really good job, and he was honestly really excited to have that opportunity and to be able to go and make good money," says Farias.
I asked Nicole how she would like her dad to be remembered:
"My dad was the biggest jokester ever. He could, like, change everybody’s mood in the room. If it was awkward, he would make one joke and everyone would start laughing. He was just very optimistic," she says.
Kurtis and Alvin say Paradigm and the victims’ families are blown away by the outpouring of support from Bozeman and the construction worker community.
Paradigm's Avlin Barlow says, "Some of the first donations were from what we would call competitors in the market, but in reality, we’re just a family."
All donations to the GoFundMe will go to supporting the families of Juan Farias and Oscar Jacuinde.
"The most important thing right now for the brothers, for the surviving brother, is to get his brother back home. To his dad and mom," says Barlow.
And recognizing the risk crews take every day heading into Gallatin Canyon, Farias adds, "Hopefully people can just be a little bit more cautious on the roads. Because it hurts. It hurts when you lose someone so close, and it could have been prevented."
News Source : https://www.kbzk.com/news/local-news/family-co-workers-of-men-who-died-in-highway-191-crash-honor-their-memory
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