Motorcyclist injured in crash with SUV

COEUR d'ALENE - A 23-year-old Coeur d'Alene man was injured Friday evening when his motorcycle collided with an SUV, the Idaho State Police said.

Brendon J. Lind, riding a 2003 Kawasaki ZR750 motorcycle, was traveling westbound on Best Avenue at 8:30 p.m., police said.

Darren Wardsworth, 47, of Coeur d'Alene, was traveling eastbound on Best in a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer.

Wardsworth was stopped on the northbound turn lane at 10th Place, then proceeded with his turn, when the vehicles collided.

Lind was not wearing a helmet, according to police. Police are still investigating the collision.

Former Kootenai County clerk pleads guilty

COEUR d'ALENE (AP) - The former chief deputy clerk for Kootenai County who police say stole nearly $140,000 from the county over a 10-year period has pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft.

Sandra Kay Martinson, 62, of Post Falls entered the plea Friday in 1st District Court.

Martinson retired in November. Kootenai County commissioners say a routine review of Martinson's records found about $139,000 unaccounted for over the past decade. Police say she wrote 210 checks to herself.

Martinson is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 24. The plea deal agreed to by prosecutors requires Martinson to receive a suspended prison sentence and supervised probation.

Prosecutors said the amount of restitution Martinson must pay to the county hasn't been decided.

Stun gun death due to heart attack

COEUR d'ALENE (AP) - Authorities in North Idaho said a 56-year-old California man who died after police used a stun gun to subdue him suffered a heart attack and no charges will be filed against the police officer.

Idaho State Police on Friday said Daniel L. Mittelstadt of Mount Shasta had a pre-existing heart condition and a history of mental health problems when he confronted police on May 16.

Boundary County sheriff's Cpl. Clint Randall responded to a report of a naked man blocking the road with his car, and used a stun gun and handcuffed Mittelstadt after Mittelstadt resisted.

But Randall took off the handcuffs and performed CPR when he noticed Mittelstadt was having trouble breathing. Mittelstadt was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Man pleads guilty to robbery, rape

BOISE (AP) - A 33-year-old man has pleaded guilty to an armed robbery and rape at a vitamin store last year.

Court records show Paul A. Neuman faces life in prison at his October sentencing in 4th District Court. Neuman pleaded guilty to felony robbery and rape on Thursday as part of an agreement with prosecutors, who dropped a kidnapping and weapons charge.

Prosecutors said Neuman, of Lakeport, Calif., wore and mask and carried a gun on Dec. 10, 2010 while robbing the Herb Tree Store in Meridian and raping the female store clerk who was closing the shop up for the day.

The victim couldn't describe her attacker, but DNA gathered at the scene was entered into a nationwide database and matched a previous sample from Neuman.

Tourists collide with sheriff's deputies

IDAHO FALLS (AP) - A law enforcement official in eastern Idaho said no one was injured when two tourists from the Netherlands in a rental car headed for Yellowstone National Park smashed into a Fremont County sheriff's patrol vehicle turning around to go after a speeder.

Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries said that one of the two deputies in the patrol SUV was taken to the doctor as a precaution after the Friday morning crash on U.S. Highway 20.

A tow truck company took the tourists back to their motel in St. Anthony. A company spokesman said the man and woman were not injured and planned to head back to the park after getting a new rental car from Idaho Falls.