COEUR d’ALENE — A ladder that fell from the back of a pickup truck on Interstate 90 — sending a man to the hospital — has resulted in a felony charge against the driver, who said he wasn’t aware that his cargo had caused an injury.

Randall G. Wilson, 52, of Post Falls, who was charged with one felony count of leaving the scene of an injury accident last summer, was bound over to felony court at a Thursday probable cause hearing in Coeur d’Alene.

After hearing arguments from attorneys and a witness who saw a 24-foot extension ladder blow from the bed of Wilson’s westbound pickup causing a motorcycle crash, Magistrate Clark Peterson said there was enough evidence to send the case to First District Court for an arraignment.

According to testimony, Bryon Johnson, a Kootenai County Fire and Rescue firefighter, was driving a motorcycle west on I-90 behind Wilson’s blue pickup truck when he noticed an unsecured ladder in the bed stand up.

Johnson told the court that the ladder flipped from the pickup onto the highway. As he attempted to avoid the extension ladder, Johnson crashed into the median, suffering a broken nose, a face laceration, broken elbows and a fractured patella.

Chris Mutter, a copy machine repairman, was in a Kia Soul driving west in the slow lane when the incident unfolded.

“I saw the ladder fall out of the truck,” Mutter said. “It looked like it broke into two pieces and spread across the lanes.”

Other motorists who saw the motorcycle crash into the median stopped along the highway to render assistance, Mutter said.

“Everyone pulled over except the blue truck,” Mutter said.

Mutter followed the truck to the next exit, recorded the license plate number and watched the pickup cross I-90 on Seltice and re-enter the interstate heading east, he said.

Defense attorney Michael Palmer argued the felony statute requires that the vehicle be involved in the accident, and that the driver had knowledge an injury accident had occurred. In this case, Palmer told the court, neither condition had been met.

Using the definition of an accident in the state vehicle code, Peterson said there was enough evidence that a crime was committed. He bound over Wilson to District Judge Cynthia K.C. Meyer’s court for further proceedings.

If he’s found guilty, Wilson could serve five years in prison, be fined $5,000 and lose his driver’s license for a year.