In brief: Police search for driver who fled

Police were looking for a man who led them on a short pursuit that started 6:14 p.m. Friday in Chattaroy on Day-Mt. Spokane Road.

The man, driving a gray 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, fled on foot after leading police on a four- to five-minute car chase. A trooper with the Washington State Patrol had attempted to stop the man for speeding, but “he refused to stop,” said the WSP’s Sgt. Lennie Walker.

The driver reached speeds of 60 mph in a 45 mph zone, Walker said.

“He wasn’t driving too crazy,” he said. “He was slowing down in intersections.”

The man eventually bailed from the car, leading police on a foot chase. When they couldn’t catch him, they called in a canine to help. The canine was not able to locate the driver, describe as a white male, possibly in his early 20s.

He said a search of the vehicle did not turn up anything suspicious. The car has not been reported stolen. The registered owner – not necessarily the driver – does not have warrants, he said.

Stolen wire, tools prompts tip reward

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for tips that solve a burglary in which two Spokane-area companies lost more than $5,000 in copper wire and power tools.

The crime is believed to have occurred between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday at an Avista Utilities storage site at 2400 N. Dollar Road in Spokane Valley.

Employees believe the thief or thieves cut a padlock from a gate and backed a vehicle into the lot, then removed more than $3,000 in items from five Avista work trucks.

Bouten Construction, which also stored items at the site, lost several power tools valued at about $2,000, including two circular saws, two roto hammers and two cordless battery charges.

Anyone with information on is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS or submit tips online.

Expired plates lead to marijuana arrest

A Spokane Valley police officer concerned about a month-old expired license and nontransferred car title ended up arresting a teenager on marijuana charges Thursday night.

Officer Nathan Bohanek identified Justin R. Bavuso, 18, as the owner of a Ford Crown Victoria, which had been reported as sold in October but did not have a transferred title and had plates that expired in December, police said.

Bohanek learned Bavuso had an expired driver’s license, and “the stage was set,” according to a news release by Sgt. Dave Reagan of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. He stopped the car a short while later at Third Avenue and Pines Road and arrested Bavuso, then saw marijuana in the car “in plain view,” Reagan said.

Bavuso had drug scales in the car and $200 in cash, police said. Reagan emphasized in his news release that the cash was in $20, $10 and $5 bills.

Bavuso was booked into jail on a felony marijuana charge and misdemeanor charges of driving with a suspended license and failure to transfer title.