Man jailed for vehicular homicide

NEWPORT — A Spokane man was arrested for vehicular homicide after a rollover crash claimed the life of his wife on Monday afternoon.

The Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office said it received a report of a one-vehicle collision on Bead Lake Road near milepost 8 shortly before 4 p.m. A Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle had reportedly plunged down a 300-foot embankment.

Nelson Joseph Dunn, 24, received minor injuries in the rollover, while Hannah E. Dunn, 23, was fatally injured and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.

Nelson Dunn was arrested in a crash sheriff’s officials said was alcohol-related.

A sheriff’s spokesman said the married couple was returning from a camping trip at Cooks Lake, which is a few miles northwest of Bead Lake in the Kaniksu National Forest, according to published news accounts.

The case is being investigated jointly by the sheriff’s office and the Washington State Patrol.

Responding agencies included Fire District 6, South Pend Oreille Fire & Rescue, Pend Oreille EMS, the Kalispel Tribe Fire Department, the U.S. Forest Service and members of the high-angle rescue team from the Ponderay Newsprint Co. in Usk.