Man injured on sidewalk in serious condition
BRIAN WALKER/Press Ryan Peppers, a volunteer with the nonprofit Kaleidoscope Community Services, checks out the damage to the Second Street Commons building in downtown Coeur d’Alene on Friday. The site has been shut down due to damage from a crash that injured a man.
COEUR d'ALENE — The peer support specialist injured by a vehicle outside a downtown recovery center on Thursday remained in serious condition at Kootenai Health on Friday afternoon.
Jim Lawson was playing guitar, sitting on a bench between two other men when a Subaru Outback in reverse jumped a curb and smashed his right leg against the Second Street Commons building. The building has been shut down until it’s deemed safe.
"He's in a tremendous amount of pain," said Gar Mickelson, executive director of Kaleidoscope Community Services, a nonprofit that leases the space from Dwight Wilson, owner of the Lakers bar next door.
Mickelson visited with his co-worker in the intensive care unit Friday afternoon.
"The doctors are working out a plan for what the next steps are," said Mickelson, adding that it’s unclear if Lawson's leg can be spared.
Mickelson said Lawson was expected to be flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle late Friday for further treatment.
"He's cracking jokes one minute and wincing in a great deal of pain the next. We need to get him to a place where his pain is moderated, but the good news is that he has blood flow in his artery," Mickelson said.
Dave Hagar, of Coeur d'Alene Police, said no citations are expected against the driver of the Outback, Joseph Gray, 80, Coeur d'Alene.
"There was no indication that alcohol was involved," Hagar wrote in an email. "At this time, it appears he was trying to parallel park and when he struck the vehicle in front of him he panicked, put the car in reverse and then his foot slipped onto the gas, causing him to strike the individual sitting on the bench."
Jason Tyree and Patrick Stewart, who were sitting on each side of Lawson on the bench, avoided being struck.
All of the activities of the ministries that use Second Street Commons have been postponed indefinitely because of damage to the building.
The pancake breakfast that was going to be held today in Kootenai Recovery Center's new location at 405 N. Second St. will now be held across the street in the Allied Weldery parking lot at 418 N. Second St. The $5 all-you-can-eat pancake fundraiser for the center will still be from 8 a.m. to noon.