Man cited for drugs, reckless driving

The man who knocked over a stoplight, a three-story light pole and a tree Sunday when he crashed his 1983 Chevrolet El Camino in downtown Spokane was cited for reckless driving, possession of marijuana and for having no insurance, police said.

Anthony J. Casados, 23, said he was at Zip’s on North Division Street when a man approached him with a gun. Casados said he sped away and the gunman and another man chased him in a white SUV. He said he was heading south on Stevens Street hoping to catch the attention of a police officer when he lost control of his car just as he approached Spokane Falls Boulevard. Casados said he doesn’t know how fast he was traveling.

“My eyes weren’t on the speedometer,” he said in an interview with The Spokesman-Review.

He also said that after he crashed, the white SUV drove by, but sped off as witnesses came to his aid.

Spokane Police Department spokeswoman Officer Jennifer DeRuwe said police searched but didn’t find the white SUV.

“Witnesses said they saw the El Camino only – no other ‘chase’ vehicles,” DeRuwe said in an e-mail.

Casados, who said he wasn’t wearing a seat belt during the crash, said he has a prescription for the marijuana and that his car is insured, although he didn’t have a prescription or proof of insurance with him.

He was taken to Deaconess Medical Center and treated for a broken nose, broken wrist, head laceration and a knee injury.