ISP: Driver said she fell asleep
SANDPOINT — A motorist who crashed into participants in the Spokane to Sandpoint relay, killing one and injuring another, told Idaho State Police she fell asleep at the wheel.
The motorist, 31-year-old Bowdeen Sui-lan Kahuhu, is charged with vehicular manslaughter at the felony level in connection with the early Saturday morning crash on Highway 41 near Blanchard.
Kahuhu made an initial court appearance Monday via video feed from the Bonner County Jail. Judge Don Swanstrom set her bail at a $50,000 and appointed a public defender to represent her.
A preliminary hearing to determine if Kahuhu should be made to stand trial in 1st District Court is pending. If she bonds out of the jail, conditions of release forbid Kahuhu from using drugs or alcohol, or driving a motor vehicle. She would also have to submit to drug and alcohol testing twice a day, according to court documents.
Patricia Ann Lambie was cycling in a support capacity for a 17-year-old relay runner from Liberty Lake, Wash. They were on the highway’s western shoulder and both were wearing reflective gear, according to Idaho State Police.
State police said Kahuhu was northbound on the highway when she crossed into the southbound lane of travel and then the shoulder, where she struck Lambie and the teen, Ashleigh Seely.
Lambie a 46-year-old from Greenacres, Wash., was fatally injured.
The collision happened shortly before 6:30 a.m. near Roberts Lane.
A witness reported seeing Kahuhu’s Plymouth Voyager being driven erratically westbound on Highway 54 shortly before the crash. The witness, a 56-year-old from Athol, told state police he was nearly rear-ended by the minivan at the Highway 41 intersection.
The witness attempted to call 911 as they drove north, but could not find cell service. He pulled over in Blanchard and asked somebody to call 911, but they could not get service either, the trooper’s report said.
Kahuhu, a divorced mother of four from Newport, Wash., told Trooper Holly Branch that she fell asleep at the wheel. Branch noted in her report that Kahuhu admitted drinking alcohol prior to the crash and she smelled of alcohol.
Branch’s report said Kahuhu did not perform field sobriety tests satisfactorily, although a breath test indicated a level of 0.036 and 0.039, well below the legal limit to drive of 0.08.
Samples of Kahuhu’s blood and urine were collected as evidence, court records indicate.
Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon asserts in charging papers that Kahuhu violated no fewer than four traffic laws during the incident. The violations included reckless or inattentive driving, failure to drive in the proper lane, failing to maintain a single lane of travel and failing to avoid colliding with a cyclist.
The conduct amounted to gross negligence and was a significant cause contributing to the accidental killing of Lambie, the complaint said.