A ride on the wild side

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

POST FALLS — Multiple properties were damaged when a female driver apparently had a seizure in Post Falls on Tuesday.

The incident occurred in the Fieldstone subdivision north of Poleline Avenue and damaged a fence, another vehicle, an electric box and phone box, according to police.

A witness who was walking on Poleline told police the eastbound 2003 Honda Civic nearly came to a complete stop, then the driver cranked the wheel to the left causing the vehicle to jump the curb, go up a hill and through a fence.

When the witness ran to the car after it finally came to a stop, she said the driver opened the door a few times before finally coming out.

"She seemed to be out of it and said she had blacked out," the witness wrote to police. "She said she didn't know what happened."

The driver suffered a bloody nose from the air bag deployment but did not complain of other injuries and refused medical treatment.

The car went through a backyard on Alfalfa Loop, crossed a sidewalk and swale and re-entered a roadway at Alfalfa. It went off the road again at the corner of Alfalfa and Bunchgrass and struck a Kootenai Electric box, Frontier phone box and a parked Jeep.

Landscaping items such as a tree, blackberry bush, garden boxes and solar light were also damaged.

The officer wrote in her report it is believed the driver had a seizure.

During the investigation, the officer heard the woman laughing hysterically.

The woman's boyfriend, who responded to the scene, told police the woman had a can of dust gas under her shirt.

"(The woman) did admit to me that she ingested the dust gas by huffing while seated in (her boyfriend's) truck, but she denied doing it prior to the crash," the police report states.

The woman was not cited due to a lack of probable cause.

"It should be noted that the witnesses that saw her driving just prior to the crash did not report observing (the woman) huffing from the can," the officer wrote.

"I did not detect any impairment and due to the fact that the signs and symptoms of inhalant usage quickly disappear and are not detectable after a short period of time I did not have probable cause to request any type of toxicology (on her) nor could I charge her with any infraction nor a crime based on the probability of a medical emergency."