5YO Dies In Fernan Crash, 1YO Critical

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a traffic crash on Fernan Lake Road this afternoon that killed a 5-year-old boy and left a 1-year-old boy in critical condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Emergency personnel were dispatched to the crash about 1:45 p.m. today to a report of a vehicle that had gone over an embankment and was submerged in Fernan Lake about 3/8 of a mile east of Lakeshore Drive.  Idaho State Police and Coeur d’Alene Fire Personnel were the first on scene.  Fire Department personnel were able to recover both children from the submerged vehicle and start CPR. Initial investigation shows that a Dodge Durango driven by Sarah Deshazer, 25 of Coeur d’Alene, was turning around on Fernan Lake Road when one wheel went off the roadway causing the vehicle to slide down the embankment. More below.

.At some point before the vehicle became submerged, Sarah and her husband, Michael Deshazer, 28, were able to get out of the vehicle, but could not reach their children before the vehicle was submerged in about 12 feet of very murky water. The children were initially transported to Kootenai Medical Center where the five year old boy was pronounced dead.  The 1 year old boy was air-lifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane where, at last report, was in critical condition/ Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department news release.