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

Two Spokane police cars damaged in pursuit

Two Spokane police cars were damaged late Monday after a police officer stopped to ask a man why he was sitting in his car dressed in black in a neighborhood plagued by recent burglaries. The driver sped away from Officer Jay Kernkamp after Kernkamp approached the car to talk with the man about 11 p.m. in the area of West Central Avenue and North Belt Street. A police pursuit ensued in which the driver sideswiped one police car and then rammed head-on into another. Neither officer was injured. The second collision forced the fleeing vehicle into a yard at Central and North Morton Street where the driver was surrounded. Police pulled Kenneth S. Crowston, 47, from the car, which led to a fight. Crowston, who has a lengthy record of traffic and criminal offenses in Spokane County, was arrested on two counts of second-degree assault, attempting to elude a police officer and resisting arrest. He also had warrants for his arrest.