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

Driver arrested after three morning pursuits in North Idaho

Walcy V. Ngirngotel (Bonner County Sheriff’s Office / Courtesy photo)

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 25-year-old man Sunday morning in Coeur d’Alene after he allegedly fled from officers in his truck in three separate pursuits, attempted to ram a patrol car and ran on foot armed with a rifle.

Walcy V. Ngirngotel, 25, whose last known address is in Olympia, was lodged in the Kootenai County Jail on felony eluding, aggravated assault on a peace officer, resisting/obstructing, driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and other charges. He also had a warrant out of Bonner County for failing to appear on a DUI charge.

Sheriff’s deputies and Coeur d’Alene police officers responded at 7:30 a.m. Sunday to a report of a reckless driver in the Riverstone area off Northwest Boulevard. They found the suspect in the parking lot of a Hampton Inn, and Ngirngotel drove off in a reckless manner with officers in pursuit, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Ngirngotel drove over a set of spike strips that police deployed on Lakewood Drive, then he attempted to ram head-on into an occupied Coeur d’Alene Police Department patrol car on Ironwood Drive, officials allege.

Ngirngotel lost control and struck a traffic control box, ripping a rear tire off the truck and disabling it, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The suspect got out and ran with a pump-action .22 rifle in his hands.

Ngirngotel was found hiding behind air conditioner units on the back side of a commercial building on North Old Mill Loop and was taken into custody without further incident. The rifle was found broken in two pieces with a live round in the chamber, officials said.

The suspect’s 1998 Dodge 1500 matched one involved in two other police pursuits early Sunday, one at 1 a.m. in Kootenai County and the other a few hours later in Bonner County. Deputies ended those pursuits when they became too dangerous to continue, officials said.

Ngirngotel will make his first appearance in 1st District Court on Monday.