Pursuit ends in more charges for Spokane man

A man considered one of Spokane’s most active criminals allegedly rammed a police vehicle during a pursuit late Monday, leading to his seventh arrest since December.

Police spotted Aleksey Y. Solodyankin, 31, driving recklessly near Cincinnati Street and North Avenue about 10:40 p.m., but it took spike strips, a dozen officers and two tries of force over two miles to stop his car, according to court documents.

Solodyankin was arrested after a second officer rammed the back of the car at Pearl Street and Boone Avenue, forcing it into a spin, stopping the chase.

Solodyankin reportedly told police he smoked methamphetamine within the previous two hours, according to court documents.

Now he’s in jail on $100,000 bail after appearing in Superior Court on Tuesday on charges of second-degree assault, attempting to elude a police vehicle and unlawful imprisonment relating to a passenger in his car during the chase.

The new charges have earned Solodyankin a place on the police department’s list of top 10 active offenders.

One of the department’s goals for 2010 is targeting active criminals through the countywide repeat offender program.

“At least a dozen officers were involved in the pursuit with Solodyankin last night when they could have been responding to calls for service,” said police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe. Many of his arrests “have involved him being in possession of a stolen vehicle, and each time he eludes officers, placing untold persons at risk.”

Solodyankin has four unresolved felony cases in Spokane County involving more than 10 charges since September. He’s posted bond on those charges but has been rearrested at least twice for failing to comply with release conditions.

Solodyankin was arrested Dec. 16 after police say they followed his footsteps from a stolen car to a Spokane Valley bar after a chase. But a judge released him from jail the next day because a Spokane police officer didn’t include the date in the probable cause affidavit given to prosecutors.

A warrant was issued four days later after the paperwork was fixed, according to court records. By that time, Solodyankin was already back in jail on new charges stemming from a Dec. 20 chase with Washington State Patrol.

He was arrested on the warrant but posted bail within a few days. He returned to jail in January after detectives named him a suspect in two smash-and-grab burglaries in December in which stolen vehicles rammed storefronts. That arrest led prosecutors to issue new arrest warrants on old charges because Solodyankin had been ordered by the court not to commit further crimes.

Deputy Prosecutor Andrea Duggan said that, because of the latest arrest, she’s filing three additional charges against Solodyankin for violating the terms of his release in his current cases.