Police: Driver in fatal crash was drunk

SANDPOINT — Alcohol was a factor in a single-vehicle crash that claimed the life of a Washington state man earlier this month.

An Idaho State Police report indicates Scott D. Whittaker’s blood-alcohol concentration was measured at 0.22, which is nearly three times the legal limit to drive.

Whittaker, a 57-year-old from Liberty Lake, was found dead inside the cab of his wrecked pickup truck in the 5600 block of Bottle Bay Road on the morning of June 10.

The police report, obtained by The Daily Bee under Idaho’s public records law, states Whittaker was eastbound when he went off the north side of the road, struck a coniferous tree and then a rock. The pickup then rolled down a steep, rocky embankment and wound up on its driver’s side in a gravel driveway, the report said.

Driving left of center, going off the roadway and/or overcorrecting are cited as contributing circumstances in the crash, according to the report. The crash occurred on a straight stretch of wet road with unspecified amount of grade, the report said.

The crash happened sometime between 10:30 p.m. on June 9 and 8:40 a.m. the following day, when the wreckage was discovered by two people who arrived to work at a residence at 5623 Bottle Bay Road.