Reports: Deadly crashes resulted from driver error

SANDPOINT - Operator error is apparently to blame for two deadly state highway crashes in western Bonner County last summer.

Mathew S. Rocheleau was killed in a head-on crash on Highway 41 near Spirit Lake on Aug. 5. Christopher R. Nance died in a collision on Highway 57 near Priest River on Aug. 8.

Idaho State Police reports obtained by the Bonner County Daily Bee under the state's public records law indicate neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the collisions.

Rocheleau, an 18-year-old from Spirit Lake, was southbound when he drove left of center on a curve. The Dodge Caravan he was driving crashed into a northbound Dodge Dakota pickup truck. Rocheleau was pronounced dead at the scene and the driver of the pickup, Frank B. Gausnell, 40, of Blanchard, was injured.

The crash happened shortly before 6 p.m. Driving left of center and drowsiness are listed as the contributing circumstances in the crash, according to the police report.

Three days later, Nance, 26, of Newport, Wash., was killed on Highway 57.

Nance was stopped on Peninsula Road and attempted to access the highway from the east on a dual-purpose BMW motorcycle. Witnesses told state police that Nance appeared to be turning southbound on the highway, but lost his balance and abruptly turned north while still in the southbound lane.

Nance was struck by a southbound Ford F-250 pickup pulling a travel trailer. The police report said Nance was swept beneath the pickup and the trailer and died at the scene. The occupants of the pickup, a family from Tacoma, Wash., were not seriously injured.

The only contributing circumstance cited in the 12:40 p.m. crash was Nance driving left of center, the ISP report said.