In brief: Post Falls driver dies after car goes off road
A 71-year-old man died after his car careened over an embankment near St. Maries.
Lyle R. Scott, of Post Falls, was driving eastbound Saturday along St. Joe River Road in a 2002 Mazda when it failed to negotiate a curve and overturned as it crashed down the embankment, according to the Idaho State Police. The accident occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m.
Troopers reported that Scott was not wearing a seat belt.
Canadians injured in Stevens County crash
A Canadian woman was airlifted to a Spokane hospital after a suspected drunken driver smashed into her car Saturday in rural Stevens County, authorities said.
Caroline Enns, 59, of Castlegar, B.C., was flown to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center with unspecified injuries, according to the Washington State Patrol. No condition report was available Sunday.
She was a passenger in a 2006 Honda Civic driven by 34-year-old Amy Enns, also of Castlegar, who was taken to Mt. Carmel Hospital in Colville, also with unspecified injuries. Both women were wearing seat belts in the 6:22 p.m. crash, the WSP said.
They were northbound along state Highway 25 near the town of Marcus when a southbound 2004 Toyota pickup truck driven by Michael D. Neisler, 51, crossed the centerline and crashed into them, according to the Patrol. Neisler, of Marcus, was taken to the Colville hospital with unspecified injuries as well.
Troopers reported that alcohol appears to have been a factor in the collision and it’s being investigated as a vehicular assault.
U.S. general marks Bergdahl captivity
BOISE – The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Sunday issued a statement marking four years that a U.S. solider has been held captive by the Taliban.
U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 27, of Hailey, Idaho, is the only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan.
“Four years later, we are still waiting for Sgt. Bergdahl’s safe return, and it is my sincere hope that the wait will soon come to an end,” Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said. “To Sgt. Bergdahl’s family, I want to say that we know you have not given up hope, and neither have we.”
Bergdahl’s parents spoke June 22 at a rally in Hailey, in central Idaho, that drew about 2,000 people, including hundreds of motorcycle riders. His mother, Jani Bergdahl, said the family was feeling optimistic after his Taliban captors offered earlier this month to exchange him for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
SANDPOINT – Two men laying an underground cable in North Idaho have been hospitalized after a lightning strike that authorities say likely traveled through the cable.
Bonner County Emergency Medical Services told the Bonner County Daily Bee that a 45-year-old man was flown to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane after the lightning strike Saturday morning.
Another man in his 30s was taken by ambulance to Bonner General Hospital. Their names haven’t been released.
Bonner EMS spokesman Bob Abbott said the 45-year-old man has wounds in the lower half of his body from electrical burns. He said the other man didn’t have those types of burns but instead appears to have been hit by electricity traveling through the ground.
Rescuers bringing body down from Mount Hood
PORTLAND – Searchers carried a body down Mount Hood on Sunday from the glacier where it was spotted by a helicopter crew looking for a missing climber.
The recovery team set out around 3 a.m. Sunday and reached the body around 11 a.m., said Sgt. Dan Kraus of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
He expected the mission to take more than 18 hours to complete.
Officials believe the body is likely Kinley Adams, a 59-year-old Salem dentist who failed to return June 22 from a climb on the west side of Oregon’s tallest mountain.
They won’t be able to identify him until the body is transferred to the medical examiner, Kraus said.
The recovery operation included 30 climbers and a few dozen support personnel, nearly all volunteers.