A Dalton Gardens man who had been arrested for throwing gasoline on his wife in November shot himself to death after a police pursuit that ended near Fernan late Sunday night, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. Daniel Joe Zehm, 52, (pictured) killed himself near the I-90 underpass after the tires of his vehicles were flattened by an Idaho State Police spike strip. Sheriff's deputies, Coeur d'Alene police and the ISP were involved in the pursuit which began when a relative of Zehm's reported at 11 p.m. Sunday that Zehm had his wife, Sondra, and a gun with him in the Fernan area, with plans to go to Kellogg. Zehm's wife had filed a no-contact order against him. Zehm was spotted near the Fernan Rifle Ranch on Fernan Lake Road. Deputies chased Zehm up to Fernan Saddle and back, trying to stop him. At one point, Sondra Zehm jumped out of the moving vehicle — and wasn't hurt. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office will investigate the case since three local agencies were involved.

• Cousin: Suicide victim not related to late Otto Zehm/Meghann Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels

It's a startling number: 1 in 4 women surveyed by the government say they were violently attacked by their husbands or boyfriends. Experts in domestic violence don't find it too surprising, although some aspects of the survey may have led to higher numbers than are sometimes reported. Even so, a government official who oversaw the research called the results “astounding.” “It's the first time we've had this kind of estimate” on the prevalence of intimate partner violence, said Linda Degutis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey, released by the CDC Wednesday, marks the beginning of a new annual project to look at how many women say they've been abused/Associated Press. More here.

Question: Has anyone in your family been the victim of this kind of abuse?

Mary Beth Meyers (of Grangeville) says the dream life she enjoys today started two decades ago when she finally ended a domestic violence nightmare. “I escaped. I had a mean husband. And me and my 2-year-old daughter literally escaped,” Mary Beth says of her flight from Texas in September 1990 to Idaho. Her marriage, to a man she had been with since she was 17 years old, eventually eroded amid a world of drug abuse. “We were married 11 years. It wasn’t all bad. It had been good for awhile. But it was just the last year or so, he’d been mean three times.” The abuse finally escalated, she recalls, to a life-or-death reason to flee/David Johnson, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (Lewiston Tribune photo)

Question: Has a friend or loved one ever been the victim of domestic abuse?

Domestic violence suspect Paul Reinhardt is attended to by Spokane Police on the eastside of Latah Creek Monday morning. Police were chasing Reinhardt when he abandoned his car at 27th and Inland Empire Way. He ended up crossing the cold waters of Latah Creek. After police arrested him, the Spokane Fire Department did a technical rescue to bring him up a cliff. Story here. (Colin Mulvany/SR)