Hearing delayed again in case where driver injured two women

A 25-year-old who was sent to prison after he crashed into a car on Interstate 90 while he was high on meth, severely injuring a mother and daughter, is back in the Kootenai County jail.

But a long-awaited hearing Monday for Ian Bolstad did not transpire.

Bolstad, who re-entered the Kootenai jail Friday, didn’t have time to meet with defense attorneys in time for a Monday hearing.

Two earlier hearings several months ago were vacated because attorneys and judges here were unable to contact Bolstad telephonically while he was in prison, resulting in this month’s personal appearance.

Although he had been confined to the state prison’s maximum security wing, First District officials received no feedback from the Idaho Department of Correction despite having scheduled telephonic court hearings, according to court records.

“This court issued an order to make (Bolstad) available; that order had no effect,” District Judge Lansing Haynes said.

A previous transport order was also disregarded, Haynes said.

More recently, Haynes asked Bolstad be transported before the Dec. 16 hearing.

“Bolstad would need to be transported quite a bit in advance of that,” Haynes said in a November hearing.

Defense attorneys asked the latest hearing to be delayed until Jan. 13.

The July 27, 2018, crash in which Bolstad’s pickup truck smashed into a Subaru Outback near the Northwest Boulevard exit left Joelle Tanguay a quadriplegic. Her mother, Ellen Brown, the car’s driver, is still healing the multiple broken bones that resulted from the crash.

Witnesses said Bolstad was driving west on I-90 in a blue Toyota Tundra, reaching speeds around 100 mph and passing cars on the shoulder before he crashed into the Subaru.

He lost control of the pickup truck when it rammed into Brown and Tanguay, who were on a ladies weekend and heading to a musical event at Sanders Beach. Both Tanguay and Brown had to be extricated.

Bolstad, who wasn’t injured, fought police until troopers Tazed him twice. The highway was closed for three hours.

Since then, medical bills have piled up for both women. Restitution in the case has been totaled near $943,000, according to court records.