Trial set in crash case

SANDPOINT — A bench trial is pending in the case of a commercial vehicle driver from Coeur d’Alene accused of hitting a cyclist on Sagle Road this spring.

Joseph Ronald Laufenberg is charged with failing to obey the rules of the road in the May 20 collision. He pleaded not guilty, clearing the way for a Sept. 2 court trial.

Details about the accident remain sketchy. Idaho State Police decline to comment on the matter and a police report has yet to be filed. Laufenberg, 38, was cited for failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with Susan Mary Demko, 51, of Sagle.

The collision happened about two-tenths of a mile east of the Garfield Bay Road turnoff. Laufenberg was driving a 1995 Link-Belt crane truck, although it remains unclear who he was driving for.

Demko suffered unspecified injuries in the crash and was flown to Kootenai Medical Center for treatment. She has been called as a witness in the case, court records indicate.