High-speed chase driver gets 10 years

A man who assaulted a federal officer, then led police on a high-speed chase through downtown Spokane after being shot in the face in early 2004 will be spending 10 years in prison.

John A. Grace, a 33-year-old member of a Long Beach, Calif., street gang, was sentenced to prison Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle.

Grace was convicted by a federal jury on Feb. 10 of assaulting a federal officer and distribution of crack cocaine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Harrington argued that Grace should serve 168 months in prison, but the judge agreed with the minimum 120-month sentence proposed by defense attorney Phil Nino.

Because Grace was found guilty of selling an ounce of crack cocaine and assaulting a federal officer, he faced a mandatory, minimum term of 120 months – 10 years.

He has been in jail since his arrest by Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Jan. 21, 2004.

He was arrested after selling an ounce of crack to a woman who was working as a cooperating witness with DEA agents.

Following the drug sale, Grace attempted to back his rented Mitsubishi sport utility vehicle out of a parking stall in a supermarket lot at 1808 W. Third.

As he backed out, two plainclothes DEA officers approached his SUV and ordered the driver to stop, witnesses testified during Grace’s trial.

Instead, the driver drove forward at one of the DEA agents, who fired his .40-caliber handgun through the windshield.

The bullet struck Grace in the face, but he sped away, leading DEA agents and Spokane police on a high-speed chase at the west end of downtown Spokane.

The chase ended in a four-vehicle pileup near First and Cedar, causing extensive damage to the vehicles involved but no further injuries.