Driver killed, two hurt in speedboat crash

A speeding boat missed a curve in the lower Coeur d’Alene River just after midnight Saturday, killing the driver and seriously injuring two passengers.

Five people were in the 22-foot Chaparral fiberglass boat that went 40 feet up the bank before coming to rest upside down, Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said. Two people were ejected from the boat and two were trapped underneath.

“We believe both alcohol and speed were factors in this accident,” Watson said.

Two patients were airlifted to Kootenai Medical Center. Two other passengers – one who was ejected and one who was trapped in the boat – were uninjured, Watson said.

“It had to be a scary thing,” he said. “There’s not a lot of room to get trapped in the boat.”

Watson did not release the name of the driver, saying he wasn’t sure whether the family had yet been notified. He didn’t know the names or the ages of any of the people involved.

The collision occurred about 12:30 a.m. Saturday about 10 miles upriver from Harrison. It was near the entrance to Black Lake, one of a series of chain lakes between Harrison and Rose Lake.

“The river goes to the right and they went to the left,” Watson said.

The night speed limit on all Idaho waterways, unless otherwise posted, is 15 mph, Watson said.

“I don’t know how fast he had to be going to go 40 feet after leaving the water,” he said.

Most of the river has blunt, earthen banks. But the bank is sloped where the accident occurred, Watson said.

A second boat was following the Chaparral up the river and called in the accident. Watson wasn’t sure if that boat was with the Chaparral.

“There was a lot of confusion. The first call said Black Lake. The second call said near the mouth of the river and another call said it was near Black Lake,” Watson said.

That caused a delayed response because the sheriff’s boat moored on Lake Coeur d’Alene is too big to get into the channel entrance into Black Lake.

However, Sgt. Andy Boyle was able to reach the site because it was in the main channel of the river. Boyle, three other marine deputies, a district officer and the dive team were called to the scene, Watson said.

The crashed boat, which was towed to the sheriff’s office, had blood smears on the right exterior and more smears on the front-left passenger console.

The windshield was crushed almost flat. Twigs and grass were stuck on the edges of the broken glass.

Inside the boat was a clear plastic garbage bag containing several beer cans.

Unlike automobile drivers, boaters are allowed under Idaho state law to have open beer containers while operating a boat, Watson said. “They just can’t be under the influence.”

The same .08 percent blood alcohol content applies both to boating and driving. Blood samples were taken from the deceased driver, but toxicology reports often take weeks, Watson said.