Woman pleads not guilty in fatal crash case
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 10 months AGO
A memorial of a cross and flowers stands on the North Idaho Centennial Trail near the site of a fatal crash on Sept. 11 on Interstate 90.
BILL BULEY/Press
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | December 4, 2020 1:07 AM
COEUR d’ALENE — A woman accused of causing a fatal crash while driving the wrong way on Interstate 90 pleaded not guilty in court Thursday.
Christine M. Cann, 57, was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter after a head-on collision that killed Spokane Valley resident Jeremy T. Scherer on Sept. 11.
If convicted, a judge could sentence Cann to up to 15 years in prison.
Police said Cann was driving west in the eastbound lanes of I-90 around 12:30 p.m. when her 2020 Toyota RAV4 hit Scherer’s Chevy Sonic.
The collision caused Scherer’s car to spin sideways, where he was struck on his driver’s side by another vehicle, Idaho State Police reported.
Scherer died of his injuries.
Cann allegedly told police at the scene that she “had a rum” at 6 a.m. after spending the night at a friend’s house.
Dash cam footage released in September shows a gray SUV traveling the wrong way on the eastbound interstate before the crash. Several drivers are seen swerving to miss the SUV.
Cann has no previous criminal record. She was released from jail in September on $75,000 bail.
A trial date has not been set.
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