COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene police department named officer Spencer Mortensen on Thursday as the officer who shot and killed a 35-year-old Dalton Gardens man on Sunday morning.

Multiple gun shots from Mortensen killed Eric B. Johnston at an apartment building on Young Avenue, not far from where Johnston had clipped a utility pole with his pickup truck earlier that morning.

Johnston, who has multiple DUI convictions, fled to the apartment, where a friend lives.

Police haven't said what caused Mortensen to shoot Johnston, but a friend and co-worker of Johnston's told The Press that Johnston had a knife and was holding it up to his own throat.

Johnston told Mortensen he couldn't take another DUI and wouldn't go to jail again.

Mortensen is a six-year veteran of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.

The incident is being investigated by the Idaho State Police.

In August 2012, a jury in U.S. District Court decided Mortensen had not used excessive force when he arrested a woman at a hospital in Coeur d'Alene in January 2009.

The woman, Theresa Lynn Campbell, was at the hospital for panic attacks and losing consciousness. He arrested her after she was combative with the hospital staff and himself, court documents said.

Mortensen also safely resolved a conflict with an arson suspect, who was holding a knife with a 3-inch blade outside Kootenai Health's medical center in Coeur d'Alene.

In that incident, from May of this year, Mortensen confronted Clark E. Richman, who was at the hospital for a "manic episode."

Richman was identified as an arson suspect accused of burning a construction trailer on the hospital's campus.

In a video police released of that incident, Mortensen can be heard yelling at Richman to drop a knife. Richman then was taken into custody.

Mortensen received a "department commendation" for his efforts on March 13, 2010, when he responded to a structure fire at an apartment building.

He ran past flames to an apartment where a disabled woman was lying in bed.

He and another officer, Justin Bangs, were able to carry the woman to her wheelchair "and safely remove her from the black-smoke-filled apartment and down the stairs to safety," according to the commendation award letter.

"Once the female was out of harm's way, (the) officers went back to the burning building and continued to assist other occupants of the building to safety."

He was treated for smoke inhalation after the fire.