U.S. 2 crash kills motorist

PRIEST RIVER - One motorist was killed and another was injured Friday in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 2 near Albeni Falls.

Idaho State Police said Michael Stanley, 74, of Cranbrook, British Columbia, was pronounced dead at the scene of 1:15 p.m. crash.

Stanley was eastbound when he crossed the highway's center line, state police said. Stanley's 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier sideswiped a 1990 Pontiac Grand Am driven by Rebecca Seubert, a 56-year-old Priest River resident.

State police said Stanley's compact sedan continued into the westbound lane and collided head-on with a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox.

The driver of the Chevy sport utility vehicle, Jennifer Lamanna, 22, of Priest River, was airlifted from the scene by helicopter and flown to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene. She was listed in fair condition on Saturday, according to a nursing supervisor.

Seubert escaped injury in the crash, according to an ISP news release. State police said it was unclear if any of the drivers involved in the crash were wearing seat belts. The collision remains under investigation.

Lamanna is the daughter of Tony Lamanna, a former Democrat candidate for Bonner County sheriff. Daryl Wheeler, a Republican sheriff's candidate endorsed by Lamanna, asked attendees at a candidate's forum at the Blue Lake community center on Friday to keep the Lamanna family in their thoughts and prayers.

Wheeler is competing with Elaine Savage, Geoff Rusho, Chip Roos and Rocky Jordan for the GOP nomination in the May primary. Democrat Larry Hanna became his party's presumptive nominee for sheriff following Lamanna's withdrawal from the race earlier this spring.

Friday's crash was the second time in a week a motorist was killed on U.S. 2. Tina Lynn Carson, 38, of Bonners Ferry, was killed on Wednesday in a rollover crash near the Montana state line. Carson, a passenger, was ejected in the crash, state police said.