In brief: Teen arrested after bike chase
A traffic stop downtown Friday morning quickly escalated to a police chase that led to the seizure of drugs, burglary tools and a loaded gun.
Spokane Police Officer Scott Lesser tried to stop a bicyclist at Third and Monroe at about 4:11 a.m. for riding without a helmet or headlight and traveling in the wrong direction down a one-way street.
But as Lesser approached, the bicyclist took off, leading the officer on a chase through alleys and parking lots. Lesser left his car to follow the subject on foot as he radioed in the bicyclist’s position.
Officers arrested the 17-year-old male after he crashed his bike at Second and Washington. At the scene, they discovered heroin, a drug scale, burglary tools and an unlawfully possessed .22 semi-automatic handgun in the suspect’s bag.
Man fled crash, fired shots
Sheriff’s deputies and a SWAT team found themselves in a standoff Saturday morning with a man who crashed and abandoned his car at a Freya roundabout.
KHQ-TV reports that deputies responded to a call about shots fired after the man left the scene of the crash and attempted to break into a house nearby. The man fired four bullets through the door while trying to get in.
The owner of the house mistook the gunshots for fireworks but neighbors approached the man and asked what was going on before calling police.
From there, the man took off to another house, where he demanded the woman inside let him in. The woman hid and called the police.
Deputies ordered the man to drop the gun but he refused, so they called in a SWAT team. Police then shot the suspect with bean bag bullets and used a K-9 unit to bring him in to custody.
Wagon wheel ad prompts fine
PORT ANGELES, Wash. – An Olympic Peninsula resident has been fined $225 for taking a 100-year-old wagon wheel from the newly exposed lakebed at Lake Adwell after the Elwha river dam was removed.
Park officials say that the receding waters at the sites of Lake Aldwell and Lake Mills have revealed many items left behind by early residents of the Elwha Valley. They want to remind the public these items are of historic significance and collecting such items is illegal in both reservoirs.
Park rangers were alerted that the person had taken the wagon wheel after an ad was posted for it on Craigslist in mid-June.
Ash Creek fire nearly contained
HELENA – Fire crews are getting closer to containing Montana’s largest wildfire, and officials are working to make sure landowners in the area have enough water, hay and feed for their livestock.
Lightning started the Ash Creek fire about 10 miles east of Lame Deer almost two weeks ago, and the flames quickly spread across 388 square miles of timber, sage and grassland in southeastern Montana.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported the blaze was estimated at about 75 percent contained Saturday morning, with full containment expected to be reached Monday. Nearly 800 firefighters are working at the fire, aided by four helicopters.
That progress allowed fire managers to send more crews to the Taylor Creek fire, which has burned about 93 square miles southeast of Ashland. Fire crews now have that fire about 60 percent contained, said Terry Anderson, a public information officer with the Southeastern Montana Fire Complex.
Thursday’s rainfall aided fire crews, Anderson said, but hot, dry weather is predicted for the next several days.
Cat tip leads to rape suspect
ASHLAND, Ore. – Ashland police looking to arrest a rape suspect found him when people called to complain about his bizarre behavior at the city’s Fourth of July parade.
Police had a warrant for the arrest of 47-year-old Wesley Hoseclaw, the Ashland Daily Tidings reported.
They located the homeless man Wednesday after getting calls about a man swinging a cat that was trapped in a net above his head.
The rape charges stem from an incident that occurred in June, when the alleged victim says she was attacked after allowing Hoseclaw to stay the night.
Hoseclaw pleaded not guilty to rape and numerous other charges. He remains lodged in the Jackson County Jail on more than $1 million bail.
Police say the cat was not injured.