March 12, 2011 in News

Patrol cars collide during high speed pursuit

Tags:accidentscar accidentscrashesJason Edward CooperpursuitsSpokane Valley Police Department

Two officers were injured and their patrol cars damaged in a high-speed pursuit early Saturday morning.

Spokane Valley Officers Jeffrey Rogers and Jason Karnitz tried to stop a Honda Prelude about 2:30 a.m., but the driver, Jason Edward Cooper, 25, took off at high speeds and ran several stop signs and red lights, said Sgt. Dave Reagan.

During the chase two patrol cars collided. Officers Scott Bonney and Todd Miller may have been going to put down spike strips when they collided in the intersection at Sprague Avenue and Bowdish Road, he said. The cars were significantly damaged, he said, as well as a light pole and fire hydrant. They are the fourth and fifth patrol cars to be involved in collisions in Spokane in the last two weeks.

Bonney was uninjured in the crash but Miller suffered minor cuts from broken glass.

Reagan said the pursuit started near Vista Road and Broadway Avenue and ended in Liberty Lake, where Cooper crashed after reaching 70 mph on tires flattened by spike strips.

The incident marked the fourth and fifth patrol cars in Spokane County to be damaged in two weeks, Reagan said.

Cooper then took off on foot. He ran over the top of an embankment but was caught by Rogers, who hurt his knee during the foot pursuit.

Cooper was booked into Spokane County Jail for vehicular assault, attempting to elude a police vehicle, resisting arrest, and second-degree driving with a suspended license, Reagan said.

A passenger in Cooper’s car got away. Police are asking anyone with information about the passenger’s identity to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.

13 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

Teseract on March 12 at 3:42 p.m.
At this rate there will be no patrol cars left in Spokane. They’ll be renting economy cars from Avis, Enterprise or one of the other car rental places and trying to wave people down with hand signals to write them speeding tickets.
misjustice on March 12 at 3:48 p.m.
We have “bike lanes” now so let’s put them to go use.
bdr on March 12 at 4:15 p.m.
Cool at least they changed the things they kill from humans to cars.
I think I watched a movie call blues brothers its very similar to this report. 1 gangster’s alive and well, Jake Blues verse 650 patrol cars dead.
de3 on March 12 at 4:22 p.m.
That’s now 5 cars totaled in about 2 weeks.
http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=14194942
Why no mention of the crashes last week? Seems relevant.
zelda on March 12 at 4:56 p.m.
The glorification of running from the cops. It’s like it’s a rite of passage these days. (Of course, some don’t survive the passage.) And wouldn’t you know it — the crash happened at calamity junction: Sprague and Bowdish.
The guy will probably be hailed as a hero among his friends.
And Officer Rogers “hurt his knew.” That smarts.
Glad no one was seriously injured.
lewis8457 on March 12 at 6:26 p.m.
I thought radios took the place of high speed pursuits. Or was that just in the 50’s?
maria on March 12 at 6:53 p.m.
The Keystone Cops ride again!
lewis8457 on March 12 at 9:55 p.m.
The more cars they destroy the less money they will have for their all mighty raises next year.
I guess one way of looking at it is, it is better for them to kill our cars then the citizens. Cars can be replaced with bicycles and citizens…well they can’t be replaced at all. Not that anyone of authority in this town cares
Mayor Verner likes bicycles so much lets put the entire SPD, SVPD and Sheriffs, on them. Watching them pedal around in the winter would be a real kick.
greenlibertarian on March 12 at 10:26 p.m.
Didn’t they change the protocol for high speeds quite a few years ago after a series of incidents?
Such that in the revised policy, cops did not engage in extreme high speed pursuits unless it was there was reasonable that the driver running away had already committed a felony?
Why put so much property and lives at risk running a full out high speed chase for what were simply traffic infractions?
greenlibertarian on March 12 at 10:28 p.m.
I mean what if one of the cop cars crashed into a minivan full of kids, and many were dead or seriously injured? Just to catch some punk who broke some minor traffic laws…
Makes no sense.
misjustice on March 12 at 10:43 p.m.
**Cool at least they changed the things they kill from humans to cars**
I must have missed something in the story because I didn’t see anywhere that anyone was killed.
**Spokane Valley Officers**
This was in the city of the Spokane Valley so this didn’t take any of your taxes……..unless that’s where you live. And if it is, then why are you complaining about Spokane’s PD?
lewis8457 on March 13 at 9:03 a.m.
reread the post gramma you missed something i did not say they killed anyone i said isn’t it better they kill cars then citizens?
SVPD has as many notches on their guns as the SPD.
valleyman on March 14 at 4:34 p.m.
I don’t see anything in this story that says they were trying to stop the driver for a simple traffic violation… How do we know the driver was not committing an act that was endangering the safety of the public? So much dribble from so few… You’d think you all knew all…