Post Falls officer rear-ended in patrol car

Post Falls Police Officer Ryan Dalke received an unexpected jolt on Monday during an unlikely time — while responding with his patrol car’s overhead lights and siren activated.

Dalke was responding to a vehicle fire on Interstate 90 near the Spokane Street exit and had moved into the eastbound passing lane to slow down to use an emergency vehicle turnaround.

Dalke wrote in his report that he didn’t initially see a truck coming up rapidly from behind in the same lane and his patrol car was rear-ended.

Neither Dalke nor the truck’s occupants were injured and the vehicles received minimal damage.

An Idaho State Police trooper who responded to the collision determined the truck’s driver to be at fault, but no citation was issued. The Post Falls report does not name that driver.