Hearing pending in eluding case

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending for a Sandpoint man accused of leading Idaho State Police on a high-speed chase that ended with him crashing on U.S. Highway 95 in Sagle.

Robert Eugene Lipska is charged with felony eluding, a second-offense driving without privileges and failure to provide proof of liability insurance.

Lipska had been free on $12,000 bond, but the bond was revoked for failing to appear at his arraignment in Bonner County Magistrate Court, court records show.

Senior Trooper Sam Turner was driving northbound at Cocolalla Flats on June 22 when he conducted a rolling registration check on Lipska’s northbound pickup truck. Lipska’s license came back as suspended for previous infractions and failure to provide proof of insurance.

Turner, an affidavit said, attempted to pull Lipska over when the highway narrowed to two lanes near the south end of Cocolalla Lake. Lipska allegedly disregarded the trooper’s lights and sirens and accelerated to 95 mph in a 65-mph zone.

Lipska, 41, allegedly used the shoulder of the highway when he encountered a clot of traffic and moved to the oncoming southbound lane when northbound traffic began to yield to the trooper’s lights and sirens.

“He passed unsafely and endangered other traffic on the roadway,” Turner said in the affidavit.

Lipska managed to reach speeds up to 100 mph in his Chevrolet S-10 pickup as the chase passed through 55- and 45-mph zones, used the center lane to pass slower traffic and nearly rear-ended a northbound vehicle in the process, the affidavit alleges.

The trooper broke off the case as it continued onto a two-lane stretch due to traffic and the highway’s configuration. However, a sheriff’s deputy deployed stop sticks, which disable a fleeing vehicles tires.

Lipska evaded the countermeasure, but lost control and overturned several times. Lipska was injured and taken to Kootenai Health for treatment.

Lipska was summonsed to appear in court on July 24 but failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Lipska made appearance in magistrate court on Friday and advised the court he did not attend the prior hearing because he was jailed in Kootenai County at the time, court records indicate.