Looking back: 5-year-old girl saved when car’s brakes fail and man reaches for officer’s gun while being arrested

IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like in East Idaho from April 14 to April 20.

1900-1925

SUGAR CITY — Boys in Sugar City were told they’d be arrested if they kept disturbing the peace, the Sugar City Times reported on April 16, 1914.

Judge Health gave several boys a “good talking to” and let them go, but the last to appear before Health was sentenced to 24 hours in jail.

The article said “future offenders” would be dealt with more severely because the town officers were “tired of the rowdy work done by a few boys.”

Fines would no longer be given, only jail sentences.

1926-1950

RIGBY — A five-year-old girl was saved from being killed by a car that had its brakes fail, The Rigby Star reported on April 20, 1939.

Oluf Jensen rescued Joan Nielsen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A.B. Nielsen. She was sitting on a window ledge in front of a barber shop and Jensen had been talking with her while a member of her family was inside the barber shop.

When the accident happened, Jensen had his back to the child and was talking with deputy sheriff Oscar Orstrom. At that time, the front wheels of a car ran up the sidewalk and Jensen immediately grabbed the child when he saw how fast the car was going. The paper said he pulled her to safety a “split second” before the crash.

The crash broke the window and pushed in the front casing two-and-a-half feet. Bits of plaster and a board was thrown to the opposite end of the room by the force of the impact.

Mrs. Sam Brown, of Clark, was driving the car. The accident was due to faulty brakes, according to Orstrom.

Mr. Nielsen commended Jensen for his “quick presence of mind and action” in saving his daughter from “almost certain death.”

1951-1975

IDAHO FALLS — Two family members died within a week of each other, The Rigby Star reported on April 16, 1959.

Mrs. Bennett, of Idaho Falls, buried her husband on Monday. Her brother, Mr. Gardener was one of the honorary pallbearers. Early Tuesday morning, Gardener was on horseback in Osgood driving cattle to the summer range when he was struck and killed.

Both brother-in-laws were near the same age and died the same way. Gardener left behind his wife, three sons, four daughters and 11 grandchildren.

1976-2000

POCATELLO — A man was charged with loitering or prowling and resisting arrest, the Idaho State Journal reported on April 14, 1977.

The incident involving LeRoy Espinoza, 29, took place around 4:40 a.m. Espinoza tried to grab for the arresting officer’s gun and started a “struggle of several minutes,” according to police.

Both men fell to the ground during the struggle. The officer reported using mace on the suspect “with no effect whatsoever.”

Espinoza then fled on foot and the officer called for help. They exchanged a few swings at the site of the arrest shortly before other officers arrived and helped take Espinoza into custody.

He was bleeding from the nose and mouth when he was arrested.