A Kalispell woman who admitted to causing a fatal head-on crash on the Polson bridge was committed in District Court in Polson on July 17 to the Montana Department of Corrections for 10 years with seven years suspended.

Sarah Elizabeth Loschke, 30, entered a plea of guilty in District Court in Polson on May 22 to the amended charge of negligent homicide. She was initially charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence. 

Her guilty plea was part of an agreement signed May 14, one year and two days after the May 12, 2024 crash and was reached in accordance with the victim's family. It initially called for 15 years with the Department of Corrections, with all but time served suspended. In May, Judge John Mercer had indicated that he might not accept that agreement, noting that the fiery crash was a serious matter that killed a man and a dog.

The sentence handed down by Mercer last week adhered to an amended plea agreement which called for 10 years with the Department of Corrections, with seven of them suspended.

According to court records, at around 3:30 p.m. on May 12, 2024, Lake County’s 911 dispatch center received a call from a concerned citizen regarding a possibly impaired driver in a Volkswagen SUV. The Volkswagen was southbound on U.S. 93 in the Elmo area.

The suspected impaired driver was reportedly driving erratically, stopping on occasion and had swerved into oncoming traffic about a half a dozen times as it approached the Armed Forces Memorial Bridge in Polson. The reporting party witnessed the Volkswagen cross into oncoming traffic on the bridge and strike a northbound Toyota, driven by Arden Cowan.

Polson Police officer Matt Gomez was the first to arrive at the crash site. He noticed smoke coming from the engine compartments of both the Volkswagen and Toyota. Gomez attempted to extinguish the fire with a handheld fire extinguisher. Unable to extinguish the fire, he cut the seat belt of the Toyota and removed Cowan to a safe distance away, before removing Loschke from the Volkswagen. Cowan died at the scene.

Gomez also removed a dog from the Volkswagen. A dog that was in the Toyota could not be saved due to the rapidly spreading fire and died as a result.

Polson Fire Department arrived and shut down both lanes of traffic on the bridge as they extinguished the fire. The bridge reopened about two hours later.

Loschke was transported to St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash.

Judge Mercer gave Loschke credit for having already served eight days in jail and remanded her to the custody of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for transport to the Department of Corrections.