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Mission man faces two counts of vehicular homicide

| November 1, 2007 12:00 AM

By Jennifer McBride / Leader Staff

A St. Ignatius man faces two counts of vehicular homicide after allegedly driving the vehicle that went into a pond outside of Charlo last February, in which seven people were trapped but only five escaped.

Antoine Paul Lachance was arrested last week following toxicology reports that allegedly show he was impaired that night, but he has not had a chance to enter a formal plea.

Lachance, 25, was identified by surviving passengers as the driver in the Feb. 24 incident which took the lives of Michael Marie Cottet, 20, and Antoinette Leona Acevedo, 22, both of St. Ignatius, who were sharing the front right passenger seat of the 1994 Nissan Sentra at the time of the crash. All in all, seven people were in the cramped compact car that night, but Acevedo and Cottet were unable to escape. Initial reports said it wasn't clear whether they drowned or died of blunt force trauma due to the crash.

According to court documents, Lachance's license had expired four years before the day of the accident and the vehicle was uninsured.

Lachance allegedly admitted to drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and snorting methamphetamine earlier that evening, and blood tests taken early the next morning confirmed that. Witnesses said he continued to drink while driving, and officers found three different kinds of alcoholic beverages in and around the car, according to the investigator's report.

The investigation was handled by Highway Patrol trooper Jim Sanderson.

Lachance allegedly lost control of the vehicle on the icy pavement, veering off the right side of Gunlock Road about six miles south of Ronan. The car rolled over, landing on its roof in a pond. All five of the living passengers had to be treated for hypothermia after getting out of the cold water, which was about 25 degrees that night. None of the passengers were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

Both Cottet and Acevendo were pronounced dead later at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, after their bodies were pulled from the still-submerged vehicle.

Lachance was taken to St. Luke hospital to be treated for injuries and hypothermia before being flown by ALERT helicoper to Kalispell. He, along with several other passengers, managed to escape the vehicle, and several of them went to nearby residences to ask for help.

"He left the crash scene, and was later transported to the hospital from a nearby residence," Sanderson said. "He had a blood sample taken there at the hospital."

County attorney Mitch Young asked for bail to be set at $50,000, which Judge Chuck Wall lowered to $20,000. Lachance faces a maximum penalty of up to 60 years in jail and $100,000 in fines. He should be arraigned in district court this week.