Inattentive driver sentenced

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man who struck accidentally struck a pedestrian and rear-ended another vehicle in separate collisions was given consecutive 90-day jail sentences for inattentive driving.

Craig Matthew Lewis was sentenced in magistrate court on Friday. Judge Debra Heise suspended 88 days on each of the sentences and converted the remaining days to serve into 32 hours of service on the sheriff’s labor program, according to court records.

Idaho State Police said Mark Bouse, 16, was walking eastbound on Selle Road when he was struck by an eastbound GMC Canyon driven by Lewis on Feb 2. Witnesses told state police they saw Bouse walking in the road, but were able to steer clear of him, a police report said.

Lewis, 67, told the trooper he did not see Bouse until after the collision occurred. Bouse was airlifted to Providence Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, but survived the collision.

Bouse was walking in the road because the shoulders were obstructed by plowed snow.

Five months after that collision, Lewis crashed into the rear of a vehicle that had slowed so traffic ahead of it could exit Highway 95. The crash occurred near New Song Bible Church in Sagle on July 23.

Lewis, the police report said, told the trooper he did not see the slowing traffic because he had just passed from a sunny to shaded portion stretch of highway.

However, state police noted that the traffic behind and ahead of Lewis managed to avoid colliding with the slowing traffic.