Deputies Lose Man After Car, Foot Chase

Spokane County sheriff’s deputies spotted a man driving a stolen Jeep Cherokee in the Liberty Lake area, chased him to Idaho and lost him after a search on foot that took hours, authorities said.

The stolen vehicle got stuck near Rathdrum and the man fled on foot, sheriff’s Lt. Doug Silver said.

Spokane and Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies, including a canine unit, tracked the man for hours on foot until they finally lost his scent in the Post Falls area, Silver said.

The man was spotted in the stolen Jeep at 12:44 a.m. Wednesday as he dropped off a woman at the Liberty Lake ZipTrip, he said.

As deputies tried to stop him, the man raced north and then east on Trent and into Idaho, where his car went off the road at McGuire and Bodine just west of Rathdrum at 12:56 a.m., Silver said.

A Kootenai County canine unit then joined the search.

Silver said the Jeep had been stolen during a burglary in Spokane County earlier this week.