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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Car Chase Ends At Deputy’s Home Auto Hits 110 Mph Before Crashing Into Cda House

Police arrested a Post Falls man Saturday night after he sped through Coeur d’Alene at more than 100 mph and crashed into a sheriff deputy’s home.

Robert R. Valentine, 22, was charged with drug possession, drunken driving, eluding a police officer, reckless driving and driving without a license.

About 9 p.m. Saturday, a Coeur d’Alene police officer spotted a car traveling about 85 mph on 15th Street.

The officer followed with lights flashing. But the driver refused to pull over and instead sped up. Several motorists had to pull off the road and onto sidewalks to avoid colliding with the speeding car.

The car headed west on Hastings, blasting through a four-way stop intersection at 100 mph. The officer watched the car speed to the top of a hill and fly through the air.

The car then slammed through a chainlink fence and rammed into the Seventh Street home of sheriff’s deputy Scott Tollackson.

“We heard the screeching and then a big hit,” said his wife, Kristie Tollackson.

The car rammed into a brick wall outside their daughter’s bedroom.

Scott Tollackson helped the Coeur d’Alene police officer handcuff Valentine and a passenger. The passenger later was released.

Officers found methamphetamine and marijuana in the car, according to a police report.

Valentine was taken to Kootenai Medical Center, where he told officers that he last remembered traveling 110 mph. He said he heard a popping sound and then had no brakes.

When officers asked Valentine why he had fled, he told them, “I don’t have a license and you would have arrested me.

“I am so stupid for doing that. I thought your cars were slow and I could get away.”

Valentine is being held at the Kootenai County Jail on $21,000 bail.

, DataTimes