One crash leads to another
<p>An officer with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department looks at the wreckage of one of the vehicles involved in a major collision Tuesday morning on Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive.</p>
<p>Kootenai County Fire and Rescue emergency personnel work to remove the driver from an SUV Tuesday following a car jacking that ended with a high speed crash on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Two residents were injured and the normally quiet Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive was temporarily closed Tuesday morning after two related vehicle collisions resulted in a scene one witness described as shocking.
The initial crash happened at 7:30, after Patricia Desmet, 61, of Coeur d'Alene, turned westbound in her Subaru onto Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive. Desmet told law enforcement officers that she saw a Mercedes SUV approaching her vehicle on the wrong side of the road. Desmet attempted to swerve away from the Mercedes but was unsuccessful.
A good Samaritan, Coeur d'Alene resident Sheri Bullock, 42, pulled her Volvo SUV over and left her three children inside as she went to check on the drivers involved in the crash.
At that point, the Mercedes driver - a Coeur d'Alene woman identified by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office as Kara L. Powers, 33 - allegedly walked over to the good Samaritan's Volvo and got into it.
With Bullock's three children still inside, Powers reportedly attempted to drive away in Bullock's vehicle.
After what Kootenai County Sheriff's Lt. Stu Miller described as a "brief scuffle," Bullock was able to get her children out of the car. Powers then reportedly took off in the Volvo at high speeds and eventually rear-ended a Dodge pickup on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive near Potlatch Hill. Both vehicles rolled over multiple times.
Scott Maclay was driving down Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive when he saw car parts strewn along the road. Maclay told The Press Tuesday that he initially thought someone had hit a deer. However, he said that when he drove around a bend in the road, he was shocked to see the aftermath of the wreck.
"It was just crazy," Maclay said. "You never see that kind of stuff in that area. It's normally very quiet."
Both Powers and the 48-year-old male driver of the pickup, William Akin, of Coeur d'Alene, had to be extricated from their vehicles and were transported to Kootenai Health.
Due to the severity of her injuries, Powers was then transferred to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.
Akin remained at Kootenai Health Tuesday evening in serious, but stable condition.
Bullock's three children, ages 8-13, were also transported to Kootenai Health where they were treated and released.
Investigators say drugs or alcohol likely played a role in the crashes.
Powers' toxicology results are pending. She has one previous booking in Kootenai County for driving under the influence and unlawful use/possession of prescription medication.