Trucker Slams Into Line Of Cars Eight-Vehicle Pileup Closes U.S. 95 At Construction Site

A Moscow, Idaho, oil tanker driver who disregarded road construction signs and bulled his way through a line of stopped cars has been cited for reckless driving, the Idaho State Police said.

Five people, including a 4-year-old girl, suffered minor injuries in the eight-vehicle pileup Wednesday afternoon on U.S. Highway 95 about seven miles south of Potlach, Idaho.

Rhonda Alsterlund, 30; Amber Alsterlund, 4; and Megan Hansen, 17, all of Viola, Idaho, were taken to Gritman Medical Center in Moscow. Also taken to Gritman was Patrick Jeppesen of Spokane. Gretchen Oschsner-Kruse, 30, of Hayden Lake, Idaho, drove herself to the hospital. Only Hansen was held overnight, the ISP reported.

Theodore C. Sharpe, the 33-year-old driver of the Sharpe Oil Corp. tanker; William F. Forsman, 47, of Lapwai, Idaho; and Kim M. Kaul, 27, of Sandpoint, were not injured.

According to the ISP, Sharpe was traveling north down a hill when he encountered road construction. After disregarding construction signs, Sharpe was unable to stop the truck when he realized traffic was not moving in front of him.

The truck, loaded with 800 gallons of gasoline and 1,700 gallons of diesel, hit Oschsner-Kruse’s 1993 Mazda pickup and then slammed into Jeppesen’s 1984 Lincoln. Still rolling, the tanker forced Hansen’s 1991 Mazda Miata off the road, pinning it under the trailer’s front axle, and slammed into a 1995 Dodge pickup driven by Forsman before coming to a stop.

The impact forced the Dodge into Alsterlund’s 1996 Geo Tracker, which hit Kaul’s 1996 Jeep Cherokee. The Jeep then hit a 1989 Ford pickup owned by the Idaho Department of Transportation. That truck was unoccupied at the time.

The accident closed the highway, Idaho’s only north-south route, for more than an hour. , DataTimes