Copyright Kalispell Inter Lake
Paramedic Scott Kornblum remembered Kimberly Gilham sitting up in a Martin City alleyway and talking with first responders as she waited on the ambulance in the early morning hours of June 18, 2023. “At that point she was responsive and answering questions,” said Kornblum from the witness stand in Flathead County District Court on Wednesday. “Firefighters were talking to her about her kids. It wasn’t clear at that point if she was seriously hurt.” It wasn’t until they were headed to Logan Health Medical Center in a Three Rivers EMS ambulance that Gilham began deteriorating, Kornblum recalled. “At some point in the transport she stopped responding to me,” he said. Kornblum joined several first responders in testifying Oct. 28 at the trial of the man accused of running over Gilham and causing her death: her 40-year-old ex-husband Kenneth James Floyd. He has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of negligent homicide, leaving the scene of a vehicle accident involving serious bodily injury or death and tampering with physical evidence. Floyd’s trial, Judge Dan Wilson presiding, began Monday and is scheduled to run into next week. Prosecutors alleged in charging documents that Floyd was visiting with Gilham in the cab of his pickup truck that morning. She got out when her husband, Chris Gilham, spotted the two of them together and began yelling at Floyd, court documents said. As Kimberly Gilham rounded the front of the truck, Floyd allegedly shifted into drive, running her over as he left the alleyway between First Avenue North and Central Avenue. When Kornblum arrived around 1 a.m., he said he had no trouble identifying the victim. She had suffered an open fracture to her left leg, he recalled. “The firefighters pointed me to who the patient was — it was pretty clear. She had an obvious injury,” Kornblum testified. He recalled speaking with Gilham, asking her about her injuries. She showed him her leg, Kornblum said, and told him she had been run over. When she later became unresponsive, Kornblum remembered alerting the hospital so that the medical team there was ready. He began running fluids into her while the volunteer Martin City firefighter on board began manually ventilating her, helping with her respiration. She went into cardiac arrest as they pulled into the hospital, Kornblum said. He learned later that she had died. While Kornblum rushed Gilham to Kalispell, law enforcement personnel with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and Montana Highway Patrol were unsuccessfully looking for Floyd. Investigators testified Wednesday that he fled to Browning after the ultimately fatal collision. If convicted of negligent homicide, Floyd faces up to 20 years behind bars and a $50,000 fine. Special Deputy County Attorney Eric Kitzmiller and Assistant Attorney General Edward Hirsch are prosecuting the case. The two are on loan from the state after County Attorney Travis Ahner requested help with his office’s caseload in 2024, citing staffing shortages at the time. Floyd’s defense team is led by attorney Jami Rebsom.
