Tangle over cell phone leads to 2 arrests

A dispute over a stolen cell phone resulted in the arrest of two Post Falls brothers – one for allegedly pointing a loaded rifle at a woman’s face and the other for allegedly hitting a second woman with his pickup.

John Edward Howell, 27, was arrested Saturday on charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest. His brother, Lyal Daniel Howell, 20, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana.

Two women called the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department about 2 a.m. saying the Howell brothers had chased them down in their pickup, forcing the women to bang on a stranger’s door and take refuge.

Stacey Renee Simpkins, 19, and Jennifer Sue Cox, 21, told deputies they had been at the Howell brothers’ home on North Idaho Road earlier in the evening and that at midnight, they all had gone to the Good Times Tavern in Post Falls to meet friends.

While at the bar, Simpkins alleges, Lyal Howell stole her cell phone. The two argued in the parking lot. Simpkins went inside to talk with the bartender.

During that time, Cox approached the Howell brothers as they sat in their pickup with another friend. Cox told deputies that as she walked in front of the truck, Lyal Howell intentionally accelerated and the truck’s bumper struck her on her right thigh, leaving a large bruise.

The Howell brothers then drove home. The women said they went to the home and demanded the cell phone. Simpkins told deputies that’s when John Howell pointed a rifle at her face.

The women drove north on Greensferry Road to get away, according to the report. Lyal Howell caught up with them, forcing the women to stop their car and turn around. That’s when the women drove to the first home they saw on Wyoming Avenue and called the Sheriff’s Department.

When deputies arrived, John Howell had a rifle in his hands and was standing in a field, the sheriff’s report states.

John Howell refused deputies’ orders to get on the ground and repeatedly told deputies that they were on private property, according to the report. A deputy tackled John Howell in the snow and forced him to the ground.

As the deputy attempted to put handcuffs on John Howell, Lyal Howell approached on a snowmobile, with a rifle strapped around his neck, the report states. He refused to stay seated on the snowmobile, and a deputy shot him with a Taser stun gun.

The Howell brothers declined a request for a jailhouse interview Monday night.

Deputies reported that John Howell told them the fight had started because Simpkins had stolen Lyal Howell’s cell phone. He added that he never pointed the rifle at Simpkins or Cox but was just showing it to them to scare them.

Lyal Howell told deputies that his brother did point the rifle at Simpkins’ face. Officers say he admitted to them that he had been driving drunk.