Man held following high-speed chase
COEUR d’ALENE — An 18-year-old Naples man who drove a stolen car Tuesday as he led police on a chase at speeds around 120 mph is being held in the Kootenai County Jail on a $120,000 bond.
Hunter W. Jenkins added two more felonies to the six felonies he already faced from another case when police nabbed him around 1:30 p.m. after he fled south on U.S. 95 and veered off the road into a field near several businesses along Honeysuckle Avenue in Hayden.
Kootenai County deputy prosecutor Molly Nivison asked the judge at Jenkins’ first appearance Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Magistrate Court for a high bond amount. Jenkins, who is accused of stabbing a man he robbed in Coeur d’Alene in a separate case, had already absconded once from authorities, Nivison said.
“He has no respect to follow the rules or authority of law enforcement,” Nivison said. “He has a tendency to flee instead of being held accountable.”
Jenkins is charged with robbery, two counts of second-degree kidnapping, burglary, criminal conspiracy and aggravated battery for allegedly stealing a television, two desk computers and monitors, a sound system, cash, three cell phones and two laptops in October from a house on the 1100 block of E. Walnut Avenue in Coeur d’Alene.
Jenkins and another man, Brian Attie, allegedly broke into the victim’s residence, cut the victim with a knife, zip-tied his hands and robbed his belongings, according the complaint.
In addition, Jenkins was charged Wednesday with eluding and driving a stolen car in a chase that began in Bonner County and ended up near the Hayden Walmart.
Police began chasing Jenkins about 1 p.m. as he traveled east in a blue Honda Civic on Dufort Road near Sagle after stealing gas in Spirit Lake, according to a report. The Civic was stolen from north Pines Road in Spokane the same morning. Deputies from Bonner and Kootenai counties as well as state police chased the car to a small strip mall north of the Hayden Walmart where, after leaving U.S. 95, Jenkins drove the Civic into a dead end street.
Jenkins told officers he is a transient who “couch surfs” at the apartments of acquaintances and ran drugs into Kootenai county.
“He gave a pretty full confession with law enforcement,” Nivison told the court.
Jenkins’ only ties to the Coeur d’Alene area are criminal, Nivision said.
His next appearance, a probable cause hearing, will be set within 14 days in First District Court.