Suspect was reported as DUI driver prior to fatal crash
SANDPOINT - Law enforcement officers were unable to intercept a suspected drunken driver in the minutes leading up to a head-on crash which claimed the life of a Sandpoint woman earlier this month.
An Idaho State Police report said William David Deardorff was first identified as a possibly impaired driver on U.S. Highway 95 in Kootenai County shortly after 4 p.m. He was reported again in Bonner County at 5 p.m., about half an hour before he collided with a sport utility vehicle in Careywood.
Deardorff, state police said, was headed south when his pickup crossed the center line on a curve and crashed into a northbound Jeep Cherokee carrying two adults and an infant on Dec. 3.
"The roads at the time of the crash were bare and dry and there was no reason for this crash to have occurred," Trooper Kevin Bennett said in his report.
Kimberlee R. Dingman, a 44-year-old from Sandpoint, was killed in the collision and Deardorff was charged Wednesday with vehicular manslaughter in connection with her death. She was a passenger in an SUV driven by Crystal L. Bertolucci.
Deardorff was also charged with aggravated drunken driving for inflicting serious, permanent injuries upon Bertolucci. The police report said she suffered severe facial injuries in the crash. Her 1-year daughter, who was strapped into a car seat, escaped serious injury in the crash, ISP said.
Judge Debra Heise sustained Deardorff's $500,000 bail on Wednesday and appointed a public defender to represent him. A preliminary hearing is pending in the magistrate division of 1st District Court.
Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon alleges in charging papers that Deardorff was under the influence and driving in a grossly negligent manner prior to the collision. A blood sample was reportedly extracted from Deardorff when he was admitted to Kootenai Medical Center's intensive-care unit.
Deardorff was released from the Coeur d'Alene hospital on Tuesday and promptly arrested. The results of the blood draw were not available on Wednesday.
The police report said a partially-consumed bottle of beer was discovered in Deardorff's 1988 Chevrolet pickup. The truck was also littered with broken glass from other bottles and smelled of alcohol.
Bennett noted in his report that Deardorff has been arrested 44 times since 1978 and has three prior arrests for drunken driving. Deardorff has also been the subject of nine arrest warrants and has a history of failing to comply with court orders, the report said.
Spokane television stations have reported that Deardorff's numerous scrapes with the law have occurred in Washington.
If Deardorff manages to post bail, he is forbidden from driving or consuming alcohol. The latter condition would be enforced with blood-alcohol concentration testing twice a day.