Man accused of I-90 crash pleads not guilty

COEUR d’ALENE — A man accused of being drunk when he injured a mother and daughter last summer in an Interstate 90 crash pleaded not guilty Monday to felony aggravated DUI.

Defense attorneys for Ian Bolstad, 24, said Monday in Coeur d’Alene that an agreement is being made for the case.

“There are ongoing negotiations,” Lisa Chesebro of the county public defender’s office told the court.

Even though a pretrial settlement offer could be reached before the case goes to trial, First District Judge Lansing Haynes set aside seven days for a jury trial beginning Feb. 5, and scheduled a Jan. 24 pretrial conference that will determine if the case will move to the jury setting.

Bolstad is charged with two counts of felony DUI and two misdemeanors including obstructing police and open container.

The Newport, Wash., man, who is in the Kootenai County Jail on a $250,000 bond, waived a probable cause hearing last month.

Bolstad is accused of driving erratically in a blue Toyota pickup on I-90 near Post Falls July 29, prompting almost a dozen calls from concerned motorists as he flew down the road at excessive speeds, according to police.

Idaho State Police said he crashed into the rear of a Subaru Outback causing the vehicle to smash into a construction zone and land on a series of concrete Jersey barriers. The wreck injured Ellen Brown, 57, of Coeur d’Alene, who suffered leg injuries and her daughter, Joelle Tanguay, 33, of Tumwater, Wash., who suffered head and spinal injuries. The mother and daughter were extricated from the Subaru, police said.

After the crash, Bolstad fought with troopers, requiring police to Taze him twice, according to police.

He told officers that he had taken methamphetamine and was being chased, and he refused to perform a field sobriety test. An open bottle of rum was found in his pickup, police said.