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

Cops say woman tried to kill ex, new girlfriend

An 18-year-old woman allegedly tried to kill her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend by trying to run them over with her car Wednesday afternoon near Sullivan Park.

The man was not hit, but his 16-year-old girlfriend suffered bruises on her ankle.

Jessica Lynn Englehardt, 18, was booked into the Spokane County Jail Wednesday night on two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

The chase began at about 4 p.m. when the victim and her boyfriend, 19, got on a bus in Spokane Valley, said Spokane Valley Police spokesman Dave Reagan. The bus driver told police that after he turned on Sullivan Road, a car behind the bus began flashing its lights and sounding its horn.

Englehardt, in the 1993 Geo Storm behind the bus, allegedly called her ex-boyfriend on the bus and threatened to run over his new girlfriend when they left the bus, Reagan said.

The two decided to get off the bus and started to walk north on the west sidewalk of Sullivan, Reagan said.

Witness Tiffany Penaluna said Englehardt tried to hit the two after they first left the bus, but missed.

Englehardt, 13216 E. Boone, made a U-turn, jumped a concrete divider, headed north in the southbound lane, drove onto the sidewalk and struck the girl, who was trying to climb a bank to escape, Reagan said.

The Geo didn’t do more damage because it couldn’t drive farther up the bank. Englehardt allegedly made a final attempt to strike the two, but the car slid into a ditch and became stuck, Reagan said.

The boyfriend remained calm after the incident, Penaluna said.

“He was like, ‘I have a restraining order against you, you need to leave,’ ” Penaluna said. “She was like, ‘I don’t care if I go to jail.’ “

Englehardt was at the scene when police arrived. She told police that she was pregnant and suffering from stomach pains.

Englehardt was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where she was treated, then taken to jail.