Post Falls Man Freed After Chilling Accident

An accident trapped a Post Falls man in icy water for almost two hours Sunday before rescuers arrived.

Michael J. Smith, 21, was visiting friends with property on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River for the weekend. He left their place in the early hours of the morning to go to work, but lost control of his 1992 Mazda pickup north of Prichard.

Shoshone County Deputy Mitch Alexander said Smith crossed lanes, then overcorrected, hitting a rock cliff.

“He left his license plate, paint, and pieces of his rig there before it threw him back in the river,” Alexander said.

Two fishermen spotted the pickup sitting upright in shallow water. They called 911.

“The fellow was trapped between the seat and the steering wheel. His hands had been hurt so bad, he couldn’t get himself loose,” said Prichard EMT Hank Odegard, who responded to the call.

Odegard, the fishermen - who did not leave their names - and EMT Dan Frigard managed to free Smith, strap him to a backboard, and haul him up the 30-foot embankment to the road.

“If his seat belt hadn’t been fastened, he’d have died. If the fishermen hadn’t come, he’d have died of hypothermia. We lucked out that we were able to get the doors open, and that there were enough of us there to get him up the bank,” Odegard said.”We believe alcohol was involved,” Alexander said.

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