Spokane Men Arrested After High-Speed Ride

Sheriff’s deputies arrested two Spokane men Saturday after the pair led them on a half-hour, high-speed chase that sometimes topped 100 mph.

Officers from three agencies chased James P. Taie and James E. Pilcher after they allegedly stole a pickup truck from a Hayden home.

Ward Fry left his Chevrolet pickup running in his driveway so it could warm up before he went to the gym at 11 a.m.

“I walked in the house and I heard it rev up,” Fry said.

“I looked out the window and I saw it drive off. I was like, ‘What the hell’s going on?”’

Fry’s 1985 Chevrolet pickup is one of his prized possessions. He and a friend recently dropped in a new motor, and gave it a new paint job and interior.

“This thing’s like my baby,” Fry said.

He and his father jumped in a car and tried to follow the yellow pickup truck but weren’t able to find it.

A Rathdrum Police officer spotted the truck about 15 minutes later on state Highway 41.

Officer Tomi McLean said the truck refused to stop so she pursued it into a Rathdrum neighborhood near Larch Road.

“He went off the road and went through some trees. He went right through someone’s back yard.” McLean said. “There were a lot of kids playing. Parents were coming and yelling for them to get out of the way. He didn’t even slow down.”

McLean said she slowed down so no one would get hurt and lost sight of the stolen truck.

Rathdrum Assistant Chief Bob Wall then followed the truck along Highway 53. The driver whipped through Rathdrum at 80 mph, he said, accelerating to 100 out on the highway.

One of the Spokane men threw items from the truck at Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies as they followed it up a logging road northwest of Rathdrum, said Sgt. Ken Sopher.

The truck got stuck and the two men took off through the snow into the woods, Sopher said.

Deputies and the sheriff’s dog, Enno, tracked the two men over a quarter of a mile.

“Rather than surrender (Taie) decided to fight,” Sopher said, explaining the dog bit the suspect on the legs and arms.

Deputies arrested both Taie, 28, and Pilcher, 20, on grand theft auto charges at 12:20 p.m. Taie was taken to Kootenai Medical Center for treatment of the dog bites.

Fry said the chase left his truck with only a few scratches.

“I can’t believe people any more,” he said. “It’s a pretty sad day when you can’t even warm your vehicle in your own driveway.”