Suspect in fatal crash to stand trial

BONNERS FERRY — A Bonners Ferry man was ordered this week to stand trial for inadvertently killing a Porthill woman while driving drunk.

William John Webster, 58, is charged with vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving. His arraignment in 1st District Court is pending.

On Monday, Judge Justin Julian concluded there was sufficient evidence to try Webster on the charges.

Virgia Maye Brooks, 53, was killed in the Feb. 23 collision on County Road 46, near Copeland. Idaho State Police say she was standing outside her vehicle, collecting her mail. Webster, who was southbound, reportedly rounded a curve in the road and saw Brooks' vehicle in his lane.

Webster apparently swerved to the right shoulder of road, clipping Brooks and the mailbox before plowing into her pickup truck. The force of crash threw Brooks off the roadway and knocked her truck into the road, where it overturned.

Webster, a mill worker, told state police he had two beers after finishing his shift. He failed two field sobriety tests and his blood alcohol level measured 0.10 and 0.09, which surpasses the legal limit in Idaho of 0.08.