A driver who collided with an SUV and then crashed through a fence and into a home on Powell’s west side last week attributed the crash to icy conditions.

The incident occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 10, at the intersection of Road 10 (Tower Boulevard) and Lane 9 (Avenue E).

The driver of the 2021 Chevy Silverado told a responding Park County Sheriff’s deputy, “He tried to stop at the intersection but slid through because of ice on the road,” said Charla Baugher Torczon, a spokeswoman for the office. The man — identified in court records as Paul R. Perry of Roberts, Montana — had been heading east into Powell with a trailer loaded with lumber. Perry reportedly estimated he was traveling about 35 mph when he slid through the stop sign.

His truck collided with an SUV that was passing through the intersection, hitting it on the passenger side. The southbound driver of the SUV, Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah, reportedly told a responding deputy that he’d stopped before pulling into the intersection. Both vehicles’ airbags deployed in the crash.

Darrah — who was wearing his seat belt — was taken to Powell Valley Hospital, treated and later released.

After striking the SUV, the truck went off the road, through a fence and into the side of a house on the southeast side of the intersection.

Perry explained to a deputy “that after the airbags went off in his vehicle, he was unable to see where he was going and that was the reason for crashing through the nearby fence and into a backyard,” Torczon said.

Perry and his passenger were also wearing their seat belts and were uninjured, the sheriff’s office said.

Perry received a citation for failing to stop at a stop sign and is tentatively scheduled for a Feb. 7 arraignment in Park County Circuit Court. If the hearing occurs, Darrah will have the ability to assign the case to another judge.