Woman dies after rescue crews pull her from submerged car in Spokane River near Post Falls

A 54-year-old North Idaho woman died in a hospital Monday after her car drove into the Spokane River near Post Falls.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office dive team and other rescuers were dispatched shortly before 8 a.m. after a witness reported the car was sinking.

The sheriff’s office said the car entered the river from a private beach area near Idaho Street and Anchor Way, east of Templin’s Marina. Witnesses reported the woman drove east along the shoreline before turning her car into the river.

The sheriff’s office said divers pulled the woman from the vehicle immediately upon their arrival, but she was unresponsive. She was later pronounced dead at Kootenai Health.

The sheriff’s office said the woman was alone in the vehicle and detectives did not suspect foul play. The sheriff’s office said it would release the woman’s name once detectives notify her relatives.

Detective Dennis Stinebaugh, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said crews extracted the vehicle, a black 2012 Volkswagen Touareg, from the river at about 10:30 a.m.