COEUR d’ALENE — Prosecutors said a man accused of crashing into a Hayden home this week, killing one person and injuring another, was under the influence of inhalants at the time of the incident.

Dillon W. Henderson, 41, of Coeur d’Alene, faces charges of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence, both felonies, as well as a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving. Prosecutors also filed a persistent violator enhancement. 

First District Judge Barbara Buchanan ordered Friday that Henderson be held on $1 million bail. She said she’s rarely ordered such a high amount in her career. 

“But this is a very frightening case,” she said. 

The charges stem from Tuesday afternoon, when Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies responded to the 8700 block of North Avalanche Road in Hayden, where a full-size truck had crashed into the residence. 

In court Friday, prosecutors said an elderly man was eating dinner while seated in a recliner when the truck plowed into his home, killing him instantly. The impact pushed the recliner into a wall; first responders found the man inside that wall. 

The home’s other occupant, an elderly woman, was found trapped beneath the vehicle. Prosecutors said her survival was miraculous. 

Minutes before the crash, Henderson allegedly purchased two canisters of compressed air at the nearby Walmart. Prosecutors said security footage showed that Henderson sat in his vehicle for about five minutes after exiting the store. Within a minute of driving out of the Walmart parking lot, he crashed. 

One of the compressed air canisters was open, prosecutors said, and police found a nitrous oxide canister in the vehicle after the crash. Prosecutors allege that Henderson had inhaled the substances before driving. 

Both the prosecution and the defense noted that inhalants leave the system quickly, making it difficult to determine whether or not a person has used them. 

“The state’s whole case rests on the fact that this is a DUI,” said defense attorney Luke Crawford, who represents Henderson. “Here there’s no standardized field sobriety test. There’s no drug recognition expert, no evaluation that occurred there. We don’t have a blood result. There’s no admission here. Essentially, it’s a theory of circumstantial evidence.” 

Buchanan said those factors made the case “extremely concerning.” 

“So many of the normal tools that the court would have wouldn’t work,” she said. “From the evidence before the court, there’s a strong indication of inhalant use and we can’t test for that.” 

Prosecutors said Henderson has an extensive criminal history, including multiple DUI convictions and numerous probation violations. 

Most recently, Henderson completed a prison treatment program, called a rider, after a felony drug possession conviction. He was released from the program four days before the crash, according to the prosecutor’s office. 

Buchanan said it was appropriate to set a high bail amount to protect the community's safety. 

“In this case, I’m seeing a huge risk to the public,” she said.