Trucker loses brakes, crashes

No one was hurt when the driver of a semi-truck, hauling 30,000 pounds of white wheat apparently lost his brakes while going down Highway 95’s North Hill into downtown Bonners Ferry at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Idaho State Police reported.

Driver Ryan V. Mai, 32, of Bonners Ferry was southbound, when for an unknown reason, developed a brake problem and could not slow down at the bottom of the hill, police said.

Mai also was unable to get to the runaway truck ramp, and his truck rolled onto its side, spilling the wheat into both the southbound lanes near Bonners Ferry Visitors Center, police said.

Gini Woodward heard the crash while painting outside the nearby Boundary County Museum, where she volunteers.

“First there was a terrible grating metal sound, which caused you to turn and look,” Woodward said. “Then I saw the grain truck go by really fast. It was still making a bad (noise) when it flipped.”

Someone compared it to a tsunami of grain.

“The grain was in the sky, about two-thirds the way of the trees,” she said. “It was unbelievable.”

It brought back bad memories for Woodward.

“In the past, the museum was hit by trucks,” Woodward said. “Each time the truck hit the building, it’s when the building was being remodeled. The first time it was being remodeled. The second time it was a trim repair. Here, 20 years later, we are remodeling again and here comes a truck.”

After the crash, both southbound lanes were blocked for several hours.

Another minor, two-car accident occurred at nearby Ash Street and Highway 95 during the cleanup of the grain, Bonners Ferry Police reported. No other details were available.