Vehicle smashes store's window
MAUREEN DOLAN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 15 years, 9 months AGO
<p>Coeur d'Alene Police officer Tim Vulles takes measurements at the scene of an accident Tuesday morning where a driver became unconscious and drove her vehicle into an Idaho Lights display window.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Wendy Phillips was working alone in the warehouse of Idaho Lights on Tuesday morning when "there was a big boom.
"Glass was falling," she said.
Phillips ran from the warehouse area on Sunshine Street to find most of a red GMC Suburban had come through a windowed area on the side of the building, spraying glass and crushing display lamps inside the store.
Inside, a woman was slumped over in the driver's seat, Phillips said, with two children crying inside the vehicle. Phillips climbed into the car to turn the engine off before calling 911 and the owners of Idaho Lights.
Phillips held the driver's hand and talked to her as she regained consciousness.
"She said she blacked out, and that she was sorry a few times," Phillips said.
The Suburban vehicle driven northbound by Kristi Belnap, 38, traveled off U.S. 95, between two trees and across a vacant lot between Idaho Lights and Robideaux Motors before striking the lighting store.
The building backs up to the highway between Dalton and Hanley avenues.
The Coeur d'Alene woman was transported to Kootenai Medical Center where she was treated and released following the crash that occurred minutes before 8 a.m.
People from nearby Robideaux Motors helped get the children out of the vehicle. The kids were taken upstairs and given hot cocoa while Phillips waited with their mother for emergency responders to arrive.
Coeur d'Alene police found that Belnap suffered "an unknown medical condition" that caused her to become dizzy.
Phillips and Idaho Lights co-owner Dianne Ansbaugh said the children, two girls ages 3 and 5, did not appear to be injured although they were transported with their mother to Kootenai Medical Center for evaluation.
The business shut down so the damaged area could be cleaned up and secured before opening to customers again.
"We're just tremendously grateful her injuries, they said, are non-life threatening, and the kids are fine," Ansbaugh said.
No citations were issued.
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