Damaged police vehicle leads to manhunt

SPIRIT LAKE — With the suspect on the verge of colliding with Spirit Lake Police Chief Keith Hutcheson’s patrol car in reverse and firefighters diving off the road behind both vehicles, Hutcheson said it was decision time.

“I didn’t want the firefighters or their truck to get hit, so I turned my vehicle sideways to try to stop him,” said Hutcheson.

Friday’s collision north of Spirit Lake caused heavy damage to the driver’s side of Hutcheson’s car. Hutcheson said Friday night that he was “a little sore,” but sustained no major injuries.

The bearded white male suspect in his late 30s or early 40s, described as being in distress, remained on the run Friday night despite a multi-agency manhunt in the Spirit Lake area.

Police are searching for a white Ford F350 flatbed pickup with Washington plates and “I hate people” and other graffiti spray-painted on the sides and a fuel tank in the back. Hutcheson said the vehicle is a refueling truck stolen from the Felts Field airport in Spokane Valley.

The truck was last seen in a wooded area near Paisley Road northwest of Spirit Lake where the collision with the police car occurred.

Hutcheson and a Spirit Lake sergeant, who was driving a different vehicle, responded to Paisley Road in Bonner County on Friday morning on an agency assist call for an accident.

While en route, Hutcheson said it was reported that the vehicle was driving through fencing and a field.

Upon arrival, Hutcheson said, the truck was parked, with the male inside.

“We made verbal contact for him to come to us, but he waved for us to come over to him,” Hutcheson said. “With ‘I hate people’ spray painted on the truck and a 600-gallon tank of gasoline in the back, it didn’t look right.”

Through a license plate check, police then learned the vehicle was stolen.

“We then took a defensive position and he drove past us, saying, ‘Come on, come on,’” Hutcheson said, adding that the voice was in an antagonizing tone as police had their guns drawn and ordered the suspect out of the vehicle. “He didn’t look stable.”

Hutcheson and his sergeant followed the truck for about two miles until the driver of the truck stopped on a crest and put the vehicle in reverse, heading toward the police vehicles.

“My sergeant dodged him, then he was coming at me in reverse,” said Hutcheson, who was also driving in reverse at the time.

That’s when Hutcheson pulled sideways, taking the hit and preventing the vehicle from hitting fire crews who had staged in the area for the reported “accident.”

The suspect then drove southbound through fields, eluding police.

The manhunt involved several agencies, including Spirit Lake Police, Bonner and Kootenai county sheriff’s offices and Idaho State Police. A search helicopter from Spokane also assisted.

The suspect had been at Inland Empire Paper Company’s property near Spirit Lake earlier in the morning.

Shelly Tschida, owner of Quality Services Inc., which provides security for Inland Empire Paper, said she stopped a man who was acting strangely as he was leaving the property, and said his name was Johnny.

“He definitely was in some kind of distress,” she said. “I don’t know if it was mental or physical distress. I tried to detain him until the police arrived.”

n Hagadone News Network staff writer Jeff Selle contributed to this report.