Sheriff releases information about a man’s death last week in Great Falls

Cascade County Sheriff/Coroner Jesse Slaughter has released information about a man’s death last week in Great Falls.

On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, while driving west on River Drive North, Theodore Frank Evanila of Great Falls appeared to slam on his brakes in the middle of the road and became unconscious.

This resulted in the following vehicle hitting the rear of Evanila’s vehicle at a slow speed (10 mph or less), pushing it off the road into a ditch.

Nurses who were driving by stopped to render aid, and found Evanila unconscious and not breathing in the driver's seat.

They pulled him out of the vehicle and began performing CPR.

Unfortunately, life-saving actions were not successful.

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The Cascade County Sheriff/Coroner lists the manner of death as natural causes from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

The incident resulted in a back-up of traffic along River Drive for several hours as authorities responded and worked to clear the scene.

UPDATE: Lynn Schares sent the following message to KRTV: "My husband, Joe Schares, was actually the one that pulled the gentleman out of his truck and started cpr while on the phone with emergency services. He was golfing at Eagle Falls when he saw the truck in the ditch. The nurse arrived and took over after my husband and another gentleman exhausted from continuing cpr, shortly after, emergency services showed up and they took over."