Chain-reaction crash sends two to hospital
Two people were injured in a three-vehicle chair-reaction crash that blocked Highway 53 for about an hour on Monday. (Photo courtesy NORTHERN LAKES FIRE DISTRICT)
Lumber covers the roadway after a crash Monday at the intersection of Atlas Road and Highway 53 near Rathdrum. (Courtesy of NORTHERN LAKES FIRE DISTRICT)
A semi-trailer struck a red Dodge pickup near the intersection of Highway 53 and Atlas Road just east of Rathdrum on Monday. A Rathdrum woman and a Montana man were injured in the wreck. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
An officer with the Idaho State Police investigates the scene of a collision involving a semi-trailer and truck at the intersection of Highway 53 and Athol Road east of Rathdrum on Monday. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Traffic on Highway 53 was delayed for a couple hours due to a semi-trailer crash near the intersection of Atlas Road on Monday. Roger Schroeder’s rear trailer rolled over, spilling a full load of lumber. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
RATHDRUM — A Sandpoint man escaped injury in a chain-reaction crash on Highway 53 on Monday, according to Idaho State Police.
State police said Charlene M. Larson was southbound on Atlas Road and failed to yield at the intersection of the highway and her 2006 Dodge pickup was struck by Kenworth tractor pulling two trailers that was westbound on the highway. The collision caused the rear trailer to overturn, spilling a full load of lumber.
Matthew Diel, a 47-year-old from Sandpoint, was eastbound on the highway when his 2011 Subaru Legacy was struck by lumber from the overturned trailer.
Diel, facilities director for the Lake Pend Oreille School District, was not injured, state police said.
Larson, a 54-year-old from Rathdrum, and the driver of the Kenworth, Roger Schroeder, 52, of Kalispell, Mont,. were taken to Kootenai Health with injuries, according to ISP. Larson was treated and released, while Schroeder was in good condition on Monday night. The highway was blocked for about one hour.