BFPD investigating vehicle theft

Officers were dispatched to assist staff from a Montana therapeutic boarding school after a resident from the facility for teenagers suffering mental health and substance abuse disorders fled during a stop at a Boundary County hospital, Bonners Ferry Police said Wednesday.

Officers said a resident from Turning Winds School in Troy, Mont., was being transported to a medical facility in Coeur d’Alene when the transport driver made a brief stop at the Boundary Community Hospital. While at the hospital, the male juvenile allegedly battered the transport driver and possibly a healthcare provider, fleeing on foot into the area. The juvenile allegedly has a history of burglary and auto theft. Per policy, The Daily Bee does not identify juveniles.

Officers from the Bonners Ferry Police Department, Boundary County Sheriff’s Office, and U.S. Border Patrol responded in an attempt to locate the teen. The search remained active in that neighborhood until approximately 12:20 a.m. Monday when a crash was reported in the southbound lane of U.S. north of the Bonners Ferry city limits. However, the driver fled in the vehicle before first responders arrived on the scene.