In brief: Two CdA men arrested in alleged assault

Two men have been arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm in Coeur d’Alene.

Daniel V. Stinson, 28, and Paul M. Best, 22, both of Coeur d’Alene, are accused of forcing their way into an apartment at 2501 E. Sherman Ave. on Sunday, punching two men and threatening them with a handgun.

Andrew Lattin, 24, answered a knock on the apartment door about 2 p.m. Stinson allegedly began hitting Lattin in the face and then ordered his roommate, Brandon Rosen, 28, into a bedroom, pointing a handgun at him, a news release from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said. Stinson allegedly punched Rosen in the face several times, then left with Best, who had a knife, the release said.

Rosen told officers he thought the attack was in retaliation for an altercation between his brother and a woman who knows Stinson and Best. He told police his brother and the woman hit each other several times at a different residence, and she left and told Stinson and Best about the fight, the release said.

Stinson was arrested without incident at the police department, and Best was arrested “after a foot pursuit by officers,” the release said. They were booked into Kootenai County Jail on Thursday.

K-9 program suffers loss of 10-year-old Gordy

A Spokane County sheriff’s K-9 died Wednesday.

Deputy Scot Nelson and his K-9 partner, 10-year-old Gordy, were training with other K-9 deputies when Gordy became lethargic, which was very unusual, according to sheriff’s Deputy Craig Chamberlin.

Nelson took Gordy to a veterinarian clinic, where it was determined Gordy had suffered internal bleeding from some type of mass inside his body rupturing. Gordy died about 7 p.m.

Nelson and Gordy had been partners for eight years, Chamberlin said. Gordy was able to track offenders and detect narcotics.

“Gordy was not only Deputy Nelson’s partner, but also part of his family,” Chamberlin said. “Gordy will be greatly missed by Deputy Nelson as well as the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.”

String of burglaries nets 10-year prison sentence

A prolific burglar has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on 15 counts of residential burglary as well as unlawful possession of a firearm and trafficking in stolen property.

Michael Dean Blackford, 50, received an exceptionally long sentence because of aggravating circumstances in one of the burglaries, Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Chamberlin said in a news release. In April, Blackford burglarized a Valleyford home while three children hid in a bedroom.

In April, sheriff’s investigators seized pawn shop slips and dozens of pieces of suspected stolen property from Blackford’s room at the Downtowner Motel on South Washington Street, a storage unit in Spokane Valley, and Blackford’s mother’s home in Medical Lake.

Blackford told detectives he’d burglarized at least 20 homes to fund his methamphetamine addiction.

Grizzly wounds archer trying to retrieve elk

BOISE – An out-of-state archery hunter was treated for minor injuries after a run-in with a grizzly bear in eastern Idaho.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game said Friday the Michigan man was with another hunter along Sheridan Creek in Clark County retrieving a bull elk shot the previous evening when a bear, which had already claimed the carcass, charged at them.

The grizzly bit one of the hunters on the shoulder before apparently returning to the carcass.

Fish and Game officials say the hunters hiked to their vehicle and drove to an Ashton clinic, where the victim was treated and released.

Since the bear was defending its food and didn’t prolong the encounter, the agency said it wouldn’t send personnel in to investigate until after the animal consumed the carcass.