Prison Van, Pickup Collide; Five Injured

Five people, including three jail inmates and a sheriff’s deputy, were treated for minor injuries they suffered when a pickup and prisoner transport van collided on U.S. Highway 95.

Idaho State Police said a 37-year-old Rathdrum man pulled his pickup out from Garwood Road in front of a van carrying the prisoners late Thursday. The Bonner County deputy driving the van swerved, but the trucks collided and rolled.

All five of the injured were taken to Kootenai Medical Center where they were treated and released, a hospital spokesman said.

Another Bonner County van was sent down to bring the prisoners and deputy back when they left the hospital.

The injured were: Karisa K. Rickard, 18, of Hayden; Charles R. VanBuren, 45, of Clark Fork; Mark A. Russell, 21, of Calder; Stanley K. Reep, 41, of Coeur d’Alene; and John M. Parisi, 34, of Coeur d’Alene. Darrell A. Rickard, the driver of the pickup, was not hospitalized.

Investigators said alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

Rickard, eastbound on Garwood, apparently pulled his 1983 Toyota pickup to a stop and failed to yield the right of way before pulling out, said ISP Sgt. Jay Komosinski.

VanBuren, the sheriff’s jail deputy, was driving the 1998 Chevy Astro Van north and could not avoid the pickup, the ISP said.

The van was heading back to Bonner County after picking up three prisoners in Shoshone County, where they were being housed because of crowding problems in the Bonner County Jail. Two were coming back for court hearings, and the third was set to be released, said jail Lt. Chuck Day.

The prisoners were in seatbelts when they left Shoshone County jail but they unbuckled themselves while on the road.

The deputy is “a little stiff and sore,” but he was back at work Friday, Day said.

The van, the county’s newest prisoner transport with only 9,600 miles on it, was totalled.

Wreckage strewn across the roadway closed the highway for three hours. Police reopened the highway early Friday.