One death, two chases in busy weekend for WSP

This weekend was busy for Washington State Patrol troopers and tragic for a 24-year-old Harrington, Wash., motorcycle rider, who was killed Sunday when a van hit him after he apparently failed to yield at an intersection.

Ian T. Scott, 24, was riding his 1989 Kawasaki motorcycle south on Rocklyn Road in Lincoln County. Paul R. Mardis, 57, of Spokane, was driving his 1988 Chevy conversion van west on Coffeepot Road.

Scott apparently failed to yield and was struck near the intersection, Trooper Mark Baker said.

“The motorcycle rider pulled right out in front of the van,” Baker said.

Mardis was not injured.

Also over the weekend, a trooper traveling U.S. 195 south of Spokane on Saturday morning was passed by a motorcycle rider driving erratically and illegally passing other cars.

The trooper tried to stop the motorcycle rider but was unable to catch him, Baker said.

“The motorcyclist went through Colfax and then crashed on the south end of town. He had minor injuries but was arrested for felony eluding,” Baker said.

Early Sunday, a WSP trooper was on Interstate 90 near the Salnave exit helping herd a wayward calf back behind the fence along the freeway. The trooper saw a Corvette speed past at about 130 mph.

The trooper chased him, and after a short pursuit the Corvette driver was slowed by traffic. The trooper stopped the driver, arresting him on charges of felony eluding.

The driver, who was recently convicted of DUI, had no interlock device on the Corvette as mandated by the court, Baker said.

In addition to the two chases, area law enforcement made more than two dozen DUI arrests as part of an emphasis patrol with other law enforcement agencies.