Pedestrian killed in crosswalk

SANDPOINT — A pedestrian was struck and killed in a Fifth Avenue crosswalk on Thursday.

The names of the motorist and the pedestrian were not available by press time.

Idaho State Police Trooper Kevin Bennett said initial findings indicated the crosswalk signal gave the pedestrian the right of way to cross.

The accident happened at the southeast corner of Fifth and Cedar Street at about 5:12 p.m., more than an hour after sunset.

Witnesses said a man in a Ford F-250 pickup truck was westbound on Cedar and stopped at a red light, waiting for southbound traffic on Fifth to clear.

When it did clear, the motorist initiated a left-hand turn to head south on Fifth and collided with a man who was walking west across Fifth.

The crosswalk is delineated by a series of rectangular bars. There is no overhead illumination on the southeast corner.

Overhead lights on the northeast and northwest corners of the four-way intersection were completely darkened. The third overhead light, on the southwest corner, cast a faint glow that was intermittently brown.

The collision happened two blocks south from the scene of a 2006 pedestrian fatality. Mark Eugene Carter, 48, was struck by a sport utility vehicle while using the Poplar Street crosswalk to ford Fifth Avenue.

Overhead lighting and new crosswalk signs were installed at Fifth and Poplar after Carter was accidentally killed. A Sagle man was charged with vehicular manslaughter in connection with Carter’s death, although a jury acquitted him of the offense.