Schools Call Counselors After Crash Victim Attended Both Schools

Both Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland high schools made counselors available to students Monday after a 17-year-old girl died in a crash over the weekend.

Kelly M. Wright of Coeur d’Alene died about 8 p.m. Saturday.

A sophomore honor-roll student at Lakeland High School last year, Wright transferred to Coeur d’Alene High School this year.

On Saturday, Wright was driving east on state Highway 53 in her Nissan Sentra just as Douglie P. Sloan was driving his three-quarter-ton pickup west on the highway.

“She slowed nearly to a stop and then was turning into a driveway … when she crossed in front of the pickup,” said Cpl. Brian Kitchen of the Idaho State Police.

Unable to stop in time, the truck rammed into the passenger side of Wright’s car. Sloan’s pickup then slid and rolled onto its side.

Wright, who was wearing her seat belt, died at the scene. “It appears it was instantaneous,” Kitchen said.

Sloan, 36, of Rathdrum, got out of his vehicle, saw what happened and fled on foot, Kitchen said.

Kitchen said Sloan was not at fault for the accident. It does not appear he was speeding and Wright pulled in front of his truck. However, it is against the law to leave the scene of a serious accident.

Sloan turned himself in to the ISP on Sunday.

“He said he knew he should have stayed,” Kitchen said.

Sloan is awaiting sentencing for a previous drunken driving charge, according to court records. Kitchen said there is no indication alcohol was involved in Saturday’s collision.

Sloan was charged Monday with felony leaving the scene of an injury accident. He is being held at the Kootenai County Jail on $50,000 bail.

Kitchen is unsure what caused Wright to turn in front of the oncoming pickup but he urged drivers Monday to be careful when looking for oncoming cars.

The post between the windshield and the driver’s side window on a car sometimes can block the view.

“They’ve been known to hide dump trucks,” he said.

The weekend accident “speaks really loudly to us all that we’ve got to take that extra second or two and really, really look,” Kitchen said.

, DataTimes