Driver guilty of hit-and-run

BIG TIMBER, MONTANA — After a three-day trial and a few hours deliberation, a Montana jury convicted an Indiana man Oct. 1 of failing to report a collision on Interstate 90 in southcentral Montana that killed Elgie Bedford, 81, of Wasilla Sept. 30, 2013.

Truck driver David Welk, 45, of St. Cloud, Minnesota, was convicted in Sweet Grass County District Court on Wednesday, a year and a day after the collision that killed Bedford while he was traveling through Montana on a road trip from Wasilla to Paris, Texas to visit family there.

Welk is the first of three people charged in the incident to be tried.

An Oak Harbor, Washington woman and her father also were charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with evidence in the incident.

The trial for Wyran Young, 31, is set for November. Her father, Westley Young, 50, also is charged with evidence tampering. Both entered not guilty pleas on the charges.

Welk has been in custody in Sweet Grass County since he was arrested near Grundy Center, Iowa, Jan. 23. The Youngs were not taken into custody.

In a previous interview Sweet Grass County Sheriff Dan Tronrud said the four-month investigation into Bedford’s death stretched from Alaska to Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Ohio, Iowa and beyond.

He said the break in the case came when Welk’s co-driver — Michael Karls of Arizona — called and told Bedford’s wife, the Sweet Grass County Sheriff’s Office and the Montana Highway Patrol his version of what happened that morning on Interstate 90.

Based on the timeline established in charging documents, Bedford was struck around 3 a.m., Sept. 30, 2013, but the incident wasn’t reported to Montana Highway Patrol until 7:30 a.m. that morning.

At trial, the defense questioned when Bedford was hit and how many vehicles hit him, according to media accounts from the trial. Associated Press accounts from the trial say investigators believe several vehicles ran over his body before officers discovered it at about 7:30 a.m.

While the defense argued investigators couldn’t determine how many times Bedford was struck, prosecutors said the driver should have reasonably known he hit a person. And under Montana law, he had a duty to report it.

According to Montana law, drivers in hit-and-run accidents face prison time of one to 10 years, and also may include a fine not to exceed $50,000.

Bedford’s wife, Carol Bedford, 74, said she wasn’t able to afford to travel to Montana for the trial. She said she’s grateful Welk is being held accountable for her husband’s death.

“He knows he didn’t get away with it,” Carol Bedford said of Welk’s sentence. “I’m so pleased that it all worked out the way it did.”

No sentencing date has been set for Welk yet.

For her part, Bedford said she hopes her family’s tragedy will be a reminder to all drivers to be alert and to report it if they hit something — or suspect they did.

“Call 911, give your side of the story and go from there,” Bedford said.

Adding to the Bedford family’s loss is the way those involved dealt with the situation. None of the three people charged reported the incident to law enforcement and all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“There’s no excuse for a hit and run,” Bedford said. “Don’t be a coward. Do the right thing.”

Bedford said she hopes the Youngs will likewise be convicted on all charges.

“Just call 911, that’s all any of them had to do,” Bedford said.

She said she’s very pleased with the work of the Sweet Grass Country Attorney and Sheriff’s Department.

“They got justice for our family,” Bedford said. “And they went all out to do it.”

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.