Woman pleads innocent in DUI charge

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint woman who crashed her car into Lake Pend Oreille last month is pleading not guilty to drunken driving.

Christina C. Cady is charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence in connection with the Sept. 3 crash near the north end of the Long Bridge on U.S. Highway 95.

An Idaho State Police report indicated her blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.23, which is nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.

State police said Cady was northbound on the bridge when she sideswiped a southbound Toyota RAV-4 with her Ford Explorer, swerved to miss an oncoming tractor-trailer and vaulted a guardrail on the west side of the bridge.

Cady's full-sized sport utility vehicle reportedly landed on its side in the lake and she was able to exit the rig. She was taken to Bonner General Hospital, where she was treated and released.

A Sagle couple in the crossover SUV Cady sideswiped was also treated and released following the crash.

Cady, 43, told a state trooper she remembered leaving the Long Bridge Grill, but recalled nothing about the collision, an ISP report said. A witness told state police he saw Cady speed out of the parking lot and cross the center and fog lines as she drove toward Sandpoint.

Cady's defense counsel, Sandpoint attorney Bryce Powell, entered a not guilty plea on his client's behalf earlier this month, court records show. A trial in the magistrate division of 1st District Court is pending.