Runaway Truck Causes Sidewalk Scare Driver In Critical Condition, Apparently Lost Conciousness, Rammed Building

A 46-year-old Coeur d’Alene man sped his truck along a downtown sidewalk Tuesday, eventually ramming into a brick building.

David M. Wood, who appeared to lose consciousness while driving, was listed in critical condition at Kootenai Medical Center Tuesday night.

No one else was injured as his Ford truck roared down a Sherman Avenue sidewalk.

Glen Madsen was standing in a parking lot at Sixth Street and Sherman Avenue when he spotted Wood’s truck at about 3:30 p.m.

Wood was driving west on Sherman Avenue but suddenly swerved up on the sidewalk at Seventh Street.

“I saw his head bobbing and I knew he was out,” Madsen said.

The truck accelerated down the sidewalk, scraping along the side of the Red Rose Motel, said Ross Ingraham, who also watched nearby.

“There was someone on the sidewalk but they bailed out of the way,” Madsen said.

The truck smacked several light posts as it traveled the full length of the block on the sidewalk. “He was clipping stuff off left and right,” Madsen said.

As the truck roared on, it mowed down a tree, ripped out a light post and then shot across the intersection at Sixth Street.

The truck rammed into the old Masonic Temple, which now houses Crop Growers Insurance.

Idaho State Police Cpl. Doug Orr estimated that the truck was driving about 45 mph when it hit the building head on.

“It shook the whole building,” said Shannon Beckner, who works at Crop Growers.

The truck smashed out a window and then crumpled.

Madsen and a group of friends pulled Wood out of the truck and a worker from Midas Muffler tried to revive him.

Wood was not breathing and had no pulse but paramedics were able to revive him and take him to the hospital, Orr said.

Doctors said it appears Wood suffered some kind of heart irregularity causing him to collapse, Orr said.

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