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Police: Woman drank before deadly crash

by KAYE THORNBRUGH
Hagadone News Network | September 25, 2020 1:00 AM

COEUR d'ALENE — Police say a woman accused of causing a crash that killed a Spokane Valley man Friday, Sept. 11, drank the morning of the collision.

A judge ordered Sept. 14 that Christine M. Cann, 57, of Coeur d’Alene, be held on $75,000 bail after she was arrested and charged with felony vehicular manslaughter.

On Friday, Sept. 11, around 12:30 p.m., police reported that Cann was driving a 2020 Toyota RAV4 when she entered the interstate from Northwest Boulevard, Exit 11, traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes.

Cann continued to travel in the wrong direction and hit a 2014 Chevrolet Sonic head-on near milepost 10, Idaho State Police reported. Jeremy T. Scherer, 24, of Spokane Valley, was driving the Sonic.

The collision with Cann caused Scherer to spin sideways, where he was struck on his driver’s side by a 2019 Subaru Forester driven by Christopher B. Comer, 57, of Issaquah, Wash., according to ISP.

Scherer died of his injuries.

Trooper Michael Archer with Idaho State Police said he smelled alcohol on Cann when he responded to the crash. He said her eyes were glassy and bloodshot, according to court documents.

Archer said Cann told him at the scene that she “had a rum” at 6 a.m. after spending the night at a friend’s house. He reported that her speech was slurred.

Cann has no previous criminal record.

Dash cam footage released Monday shows a gray SUV traveling the wrong way on the eastbound interstate before the crash. Several eastbound drivers are seen swerving to miss the SUV.

Investigators with Idaho State Police and the Kootenai County Prosecutors Office have asked anyone who witnessed the crash to contact ISP at 208-209-8730.

If Cann makes bail, she will be required to submit to alcohol testing four times per month.