BIGFORK — A family leaving a baby shower on Sunday, December 1, 2024, near Bigfork was hit head-on by a driver attempting to pass in a no-passing zone on Montana Highway 83.
- UPDATE: Suspect in court
The impact of the crash killed Wyatt Potts instantly. His fiancé Teressa Brandt was hurt so badly that she's fighting for her life right now. Her teenage daughter was also critically injured.
“It was a baby shower at Swan River Hall, and they did all the typical baby games, got in the vehicle to go home and made it a couple hundred yards and got smacked, and Wyatt died instantly, and Teressa is struggling,” said Wyatt's mother Mary Latta.
Wyatt Potts was born and raised in the Flathead Valley. He was only 33 years old when he was tragically killed.
“You couldn’t go anywhere where somebody didn’t know Wyatt, I mean he had a very unique vehicle, he had a unique personality, he had his bright red beard, and he just cared about people,” said Latta.
Latta lives just a couple of miles down the road from where the crash happened.
She received a phone call on Sunday night saying there had been a crash and rushed to the scene: "I knew it was Wyatt, and they said they didn’t think he made it.”
Teressa Brandt and her 15-year-old daughter Ashtyn sustained critical injuries in the crash.
Ashtyn broke her femur while Teressa suffered a traumatic brain injury and a fractured neck and back, and is currently in a medically-induced coma.
“We’re in limbo right now, but my sister I promise you is a fighter, and everybody who watches this, lots of them will know my sister, and I know they are sitting at home shaking their heads because they know it too,” said Teressa'a sister Amanda Sharpe.
Sharpe said her sister told her one week ago that she and Wyatt were pregnant and expecting their first child together.
Amanda said the baby did not survive the crash.
“And my sister was so excited about that, and Wyatt was so excited to be a dad, and this person took not only Wyatt, my niece’s leg, my sister’s livelihood, but he took her baby, and she’s fighting for her life, she’s lost her baby.”
The Montana Highway Patrol said alcohol, drugs, and speed are suspected factors in the crash.
The name of the suspect has not yet been released.
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“We need to gather around, we need to figure out what we can do to change this when the time comes, we need to fill courtrooms, we need to as a community be here together and fight, because somebody has to, and if we’re the chosen people to do that then we need to do it,” said Sharpe.
Latta said she will learn to live without her son but will never forget what was taken from her.
“I forgive the guy; I’m not going to let bitterness destroy me on this one and I pray others don’t either but even with forgiving him he still needs consequences to these kinds of actions.”
Two GoFundMe accounts have been created — one raising money for Wyatt’s funeral expenses, and another funds for Teressa’s and Ashtyn’s medical expenses.
The family said they are overwhelmed by the support they have received from the Flathead community.
MTN News has contacted the Flathead County Attorney’s Office to see how the legal process will unfold for the suspected driver involved in this crash.
We will update you if we get more information.
