Suit Dropped Over Isp Handling Of Husband’s Body Victim Taken To Mortuary In Back Of Wrecked Vehicle After 1993 Crash

The last chapter in a drunken driving accident three years ago came to a close this week when Marcella Nomee Monhatwa dropped a lawsuit against the Idaho State Police.

Monhatwa had sued the police for allegedly mishandling her husband’s body after he was killed in a head-on collision. He and two children died Dec. 3, 1993, on U.S. Highway 95 near Worley, Idaho, when his car collided with one driven by an intoxicated Moscow, Idaho, woman.

Howard Monhatwa, 25, was killed instantly and pinned against the steering wheel.

The ISP officers said they covered his body with blankets, and only removed the blankets for his last rites and an examination by the coroner.

After his body was extricated by emergency workers, he was placed in the back seat and covered with blankets. The car was placed on the back of a truck and taken to the mortuary.

Marcella Monhatwa accused the ISP of allowing her husband’s body to protrude from the car uncovered for about five hours at the accident scene. She also objected to the decision to transport him in the back of his damaged vehicle.

However, she acknowledged later that she never actually saw the accident scene.

Kootenai County Coroner Robert West testified in an affidavit that “given the existing accident conditions” the method of transportation was acceptable and reasonable. He also testified that it did not cause harm to the body to be transported that way.

When the lawsuit was filed, ISP Capt. Ralph Powell said that the hearse was sent away because police and emergency workers initially believed they could not extricate the body. The road was closed for several hours following the accident, which was a factor in the decision to move the body immediately instead of calling a hearse to return to the scene.

Also killed in the accident were Marcella Monhatwa’s 5-year-old daughter, Justina Nomee, and 17-month-old nephew, Amadee Nomee.

The driver of the other car, Janice Hess, was convicted of three counts of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to a year in jail.

Family and friends of the victims complained that the sentence was too light and accusations of racism swirled around the case.

Monhatwa’s attorney, Fred Gabourie, declined to discuss the case, except to say, “This thing’s been put to bed.”

, DataTimes