Officer Loses Control Of Cruiser Police Car Bounces Over Retaining Wall, Hits Parked Vehicles At Taco Restaurant

A Coeur d’Alene police car plowed into a Harley-Davidson and a Mercedes-Benz while rushing to a crime scene Tuesday.

No one was hurt when Officer Pete Atkins launched his patrol car over a cement retaining wall, crushing the motorcycle and denting the Mercedes at about 2:30 p.m.

The 34-year-old policeman is one of two Coeur d’Alene Police officers who teach other officers how to drive their emergency vehicles.

“If it’s going to happen, I would rather get hit by a police car,” said R.C. Sherman, owner of the freshly mangled Harley. At least he knows the city has insurance, he said.

Sherman was eating lunch on a picnic bench outside of Taco John’s when he saw the officer drive south on Fourth Street with lights flashing and siren sounding.

Another police officer was calling for backup from the Conoco station next to Taco John’s. The officer had spotted a man in a car with a gun, said Lt. Greg Surplus.

“I heard the tires scream and then I saw the police car flying into the air,” said Arndt Hoffman, who had borrowed his friend’s Mercedes to run errands.

Witnesses told Idaho State Police that Atkins was driving about 25 to 30 mph when he took a sharp turn into the Conoco parking lot, said ISP Sgt. Jay Komosinski.

The slope of the driveway combined with a dip in the pavement bounced the car into the air, Komosinski said. The patrol car then drove up and over the foot-high retaining wall between the gas station and the restaurant.

Sherman and Hoffman had parked in the compact car spaces on the other side of the wall.

“It’s compact now,” Sherman said as his 1961 Harley - a former Spokane police motorcycle - lay pinned under the dented patrol car. The patrol car had rolled on top of the motorcycle, crunching both vehicles into the Mercedes before stopping.

Komosinski said speed and inattention were at the root of the accident.

“In a situation like this where an officer is trying to help another officer you’re focusing on a goal and that goal is to help a brother or sister officer,” Komosinski said. “His focus was elsewhere.”

In the end, no one was arrested at the Conoco station, Surplus said. There was a gun but it was not being used illegally.

ISP will forward its investigation to the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s office to decide whether Atkins should be issued a citation. The Coeur d’Alene police department will conduct its own investigation, Surplus said.

“It just goes to show that none of us are perfect,” said Judy Lea, the Mercedes owner.

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