One dead, one arrested in boat crash

One man died and another was arrested Saturday after a boating accident on the Spokane River near Coeur d’Alene.

Jack A. Miller, 30, of Stites, Idaho, died after the stationary boat in which he was fishing with a friend was struck by another boat headed east near Mill River about 2:10 p.m., according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

John F. Klinefelter, 45, of Coeur d’Alene, was booked into jail on a felony charge of operating the boat under the influence of alcohol. Klinefelter submitted to a breath test, which showed a blood-alcohol content of 0.12, above the legal limit of 0.8, the Sheriff’s Department said.

It was the fourth fatality on Kootenai County waterways this season.Miller and Daniel J. Zimmerman, 26, of Post Falls, were fishing from their 1998 Blue Water motorboat at around 2:10 p.m. Saturday. Klinefelter and a friend, Jason C. Fisk, 39, of Post Falls, were heading east on the Spokane River in a 1964 Larson motorboat, when it veered to the right and struck the Blue Water and Miller, the Sheriff’s Department said. Miller was ejected from the boat and was later pronounced dead.

The Larson boat then ran into the river’s south shore.

None of the four men was wearing a life jacket.