Coeur d’Alene man died in ATV crash

A 74-year-old man killed Tuesday in an all-terrain vehicle crash near the Fourth of July Pass parking lot in Kootenai County was identified this morning as Cleo B. “Bud” Dodge, of Coeur d’Alene. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department reported that Dodge was with three friends, all ATV riders, about 1:45 p.m. when he crashed into a gate on Forest Service Trail 800. The group was returning to the recreational parking area at the pass summit. It appeared that Dodge, who was the second of four ATVs, failed to negotiate the route around the gate and struck a gate post, causing a severe chest injury. Capt. Ben Wolfinger said in a news release today that dust in the air from the first ATV as well as the speed at which Dodge was traveling contributed to the accident. He apparently did not see the gate in time to make the appropriate course adjustment, Wolfinger said. A deputy found the victim unconscious; his heart stopped beating a short time later, the sheriff’s department reported. The deputy performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the victim was transported to Kootenai Medical Center, where he was declared dead. The road is about a quarter-mile northeast of the parking lot and is open to motorcycles and ATVs from March to September only, the sheriff’s office said. The trail is closed to other motor vehicles.