Wrecks take three lives on U.S. 95 north of Coeur d’Alene

Three people were killed in two unrelated wrecks involving semitrucks Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in North Idaho.

The 53-year-old driver of a northbound tanker truck hauling raw sewage died when the vehicle drifted off U.S. Highway 95 north of Hayden near Boekel Road around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday.

The truck traveled down an embankment and tipped over onto its right side, striking a fence and trees. Rock Anthony Gabbard, of Coeur d’Alene, was pronounced dead at the scene. Gabbard was not wearing a seat belt, the Idaho State Police said.

Roughly half of the 6,000 gallons of raw sewage in the tanker spilled onto the side of the highway, according to Northern Lakes Fire Protection District. A sanitation services crew siphoned the remaining sewage from the truck’s tanker.

Two people were killed late Tuesday in a head-on crash in southern Bonner County.

A man driving a 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88 north on U.S. 95 near Careywood collided with a southbound semitruck just before 10:30 p.m., the ISP said.

The unidentified driver of the Oldsmobile died. A passenger in the car, Tasha L. Coffman-Saeburn, 31, of Eugene, Oregon, also died.

The driver of the 2017 Peterbilt semitruck, Denis LeBrun, 55, of Mandeville, Quebec, was injured and taken to Kootenai Health hospital. A passenger, Marc Aruele, 55, of Pont-Rouge, Quebec, also was injured and transported to Kootenai Health.

Crash investigators are asking that anyone who witnessed Tuesday’s crash or saw the vehicles moments before the collision call (208) 209-8620.