PRIEST RIVER, Idaho — A young Idaho father was killed Friday night when he crashed his car on the way home from buying his 3-year-old daughter’s Christmas presents, police and family said.
Idaho State Police officials reported that Andrew P. Blum, 29, of Spokane, Washington, was driving a maroon 2002 Mazda Tribute near Priest River when he lost control of the car in a curve. The car flipped in a ditch and, according to KHQ-TV in Spokane, burst into flames.
"He was a very good dad," Sadie Brown, the girl's mother, told the news station. "He loved Emma with everything he had."
Neither Blum nor his sole passenger, older brother Jerod M. Paulus, were wearing their seatbelts, investigators said. Blum died at Bonner General Hospital, where Paulus, 32, was recovering from his injuries.
Loved ones told KHQ that Blum’s life revolved around his daughter, Emma.
Brown said that, although they were no longer a couple, she and Blum spoke daily. She last spoke to him about 30 minutes before the crash, when he told her he was shopping for their little girl.
[ >> Read more trending news ]
The gifts he bought her were burned in the crash, but Brown said the loss of her father is all Emma cares about.
“She keeps saying, ‘Let me call my dad. I want to see my dad,’” Brown said.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Blum's family pay for his funeral.
Priest River is in North Idaho, about 45 miles north of Coeur d’Alene and 55 miles northeast of Spokane.