DUI suspect tracked through woods

SANDPOINT — An Upper Pack River man was apprehended on suspicion of drunken driving after a game of cat and mouse with law enforcement on Monday night.

Gene Alan Mellott faces additional misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and possession of an open alcohol container. The driving under the influence charge is being prosecuted as a felony because of two prior DUI convictions, according to the criminal complaint.

Mellott, 37, was ordered held on $25,000 on the felony DUI charge.

Mellott has refused the services of a public defender, court records indicate.

An Idaho State Police trooper attempted to stop Mellott for speeding on Upper Pack River Road shortly before 6 p.m., the arrest report said.

Mellott, the report said, turned south onto A Street and the Ford Ranger pickup truck he was driving went airborne as he sped down the pot-holed forest road. He allegedly bailed out of the rig in the 1500 block and ran up a private driveway.

The trooper and two Bonner County Sheriff’s deputies began tracking Mellott, who had apparently doubled back to the pickup, but encountered the law officers and ran up a steep hillside.

The officers received information that Mellott could be at a residence in the 1500 block of Upper Pack, but the homeowner insisted the man was not there, the report said. Deputies found Mellott in the backyard and apprehended him without further incident.

Mellott’s breath-alcohol level was measured at 0.10, the arrest report.

Henry Merlin Anderson, 68, was cited for obstructing law enforcement. Anderson allegedly admitted that Mellott called him and he picked Mellott up and took him to purchase more beer at a convenience store, the report said.