Missing man found

A 66-year-old Athol man who had been missing since Thursday was found less than a quarter mile from his home Sunday by a family on an outing near Silverwood.

Howard Coates was found around 5:15 p.m. pinned between his ATV and a tree not far from a trail on private land.

He was airlifted by Life Flight to Kootenai Health and treated for non-life threatening injuries, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office.

Coates had been missing since around 7 p.m. Thursday from his N. Ponderosa Street home. His wife said he wore pajama bottoms and little else when he left the residence on a 2004 Camo Bombardier Outlander, but she did not know which direction he went.

“We didn’t know the direction of travel,” Sheriff’s Lt. Ryan Higgins said. “We focussed on the trails and roads he might have gone on.”

The sheriff’s office, along with the civil air patrol, Spokane County and local search and rescue units scoured the area during daylight hours between Thursday and Sunday without results.

A family traveling on ATVs Sunday afternoon south of Silverwood about 300 yards from Coates’ residence saw what appeared to be a crash and went to investigate. They located Coates pinned between his machine and tree.

“He was conscious and alert,” Higgins said.