Suit filed over deadly crash

SANDPOINT — A Vay man has filed a wrongful death suit against the Idaho Department of Correction over a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 95 that killed his wife two years ago.

Tim Caufield’s suit seeks unspecified negligence damages from the department and Marciano Lee Meckle, an IDOC employee who allegedly caused the fatal wreck.

The suit was filed in 1st District Court on April 1.

The collision claimed the life of Ruth Marie Caufield, Tim Caufield’s wife of nearly 34 years. Ruth Caufield, 51, died of severe head trauma, according to estate records on file in Bonner County.

The crash happened on April 11, 2007, in Latah County near Genesee.

At the time of the collision, Idaho State Police said Meckle was northbound in a Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck when he crossed the center line “for an unknown reason” and crashed into Ruth Caufield’s Toyota compact.

Both motorists were wearing seat belts, state police said.

Ruth Caufield was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, where she succumbed to her injuries, the suit said.

Meckle, 31, was ultimately charged in Latah County with vehicular manslaughter at the misdemeanor level, Idaho State Judiciary records indicate.

Meckle pleaded guilty last year through an agreement with the state and was sentenced to two years of probation, judiciary records said.

At the time of the crash, Meckle living in Athol and working at a state prison facility in Cottonwood, which made for a lengthy commute, the suit said.

The commute between the two cities, via U.S. 95, exceeds three hours.

Tim Caufield’s counsel, Coeur d’Alene attorney Savi Grewal, said in the suit that IDOC knew or should have known Meckle “was likely to be experiencing exhaustion and fatigue following his work day at the North Idaho Correctional Institution and as a result of the fatigue would be inattentive in operating his vehicle.”

Jeff Ray, an IDOC spokesman, said the department had no comment on the matter because it involved pending litigation and an employee who was off duty at the time of the crash.

Ray said Meckle was a corrections officer from 2006 to 2007, but was placed on medical leave due to the injuries he suffered in the crash.