In brief: Pedestrian killed on Interstate 90
A 47-year-old Mullan, Idaho, man was struck and killed on Interstate 90 near Wallace on Sunday, but authorities say the driver of the vehicle that first hit the man never stopped.
Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said it’s possible the driver who hit and killed Robert J. Flood did not realize it.
The accident was reported about 3 a.m. Sunday by a Montana resident who was returning home from a bicycle trip in Washington with two others and struck the body, Reynalds said. The driver told sheriff’s deputies that they didn’t see Flood lying in the road until it was too late.
An autopsy revealed Flood was already dead when he was run over by the Montana resident – struck and killed by a vehicle moments earlier, Reynalds said.
Flood was likely intoxicated, Reynalds said, noting that the smell of alcohol was emanating from Flood’s body. Authorities believe Flood was walking from Wallace to where he had parked his vehicle in nearby Mullan.
– Taryn Hecker
Coeur d’Alene
Animal cruelty suspects file claim
A couple facing animal cruelty charges have filed a $100,000 tort claim against Kootenai County.
Wayne and Darlene Gardner allege that sheriff’s deputies and an Idaho Department of Fish and Game officer entered their home Aug. 30 without probable cause that a crime had occurred and illegally seized 23 animals, including two deer.
The criminal case is sealed, and the couple has yet to be arraigned, according to the county prosecutor’s office.
According to sheriff’s reports, officers went to the mobile home to follow up on a report of animal abuse and saw a malnourished horse in the pasture. Though the report said the Gardners’ 16-year-old daughter opened the door and let investigators inside, the couple allege deputies “violently” kicked in the door.
Investigators found the deer in bedrooms and reported that the urine-soaked floor was rotted through in places. Thirteen dogs, two cats, four guinea pigs and a rabbit were seized, along with the deer and horse.
– Taryn Hecker
Two rob manager of pizza store
Coeur d’Alene police are looking for two men who robbed a pizza store manager as he made a night deposit early Tuesday at a bank.
Bryant Wilson, manager of Pizza Pipeline, told police he was getting out of his vehicle around 3 a.m. to make a night deposit at bankcda when two men approached and demanded he give them the money.
Wilson told police he thought the men were going to beat him, so he dropped the bag of money and ran to his car.
The men took the money and left, Wilson told police.
The men were both white, appeared to be between the ages of 16 and 30 and wore black clothes, black gloves and black ski masks, Wilson said. Officers and a canine unit from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department searched for them without success.
Anyone with information is asked to call Coeur d’Alene police at (208) 769-2320 or the Tip Line at (208) 769-2296.
– Taryn Hecker