Crash injures deputy; stolen car spotted at the scene

A crash involving a Spokane Valley sheriff’s deputy indirectly led to a police chase involving a stolen car that ended with another crash on Spokane’s North Side.

Deputy Beau Vucinich was driving his marked police SUV south on Pines Road around 12:20 p.m. Tuesday when he hit a black Mercedes that pulled out in front of him, according to the Washington State Patrol. The driver of the Mercedes, identified as 18-year-old Alycia Deherrera, was attempting to turn left onto Pines from eastbound Sinto Avenue.

Deherrera was cited for failure to yield. She was not injured but Vucinich was taken to Valley Hospital with minor injuries, WSP said.

A deputy helping direct traffic around the crash spotted a suspicious gold Dodge Stratus that turned out to be reported stolen in Airway Heights on Monday, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Mark Gregory.

“This vehicle caught his attention for whatever reason,” Gregory said.

Gregory, who was driving east on the freeway to respond to the crash involving the deputy, heard on his radio that the stolen car was heading west on Mission Avenue. He exited the freeway at Argonne Road in the hopes of intercepting the stolen car and spotted it entering the freeway westbound. He followed the Dodge in his unmarked car until a marked police car could catch up, Gregory said.

Gregory and the marked unit pursued the car until it reached Cincinnati Street and Boone Avenue, where the chase was called off because of increasing traffic. Shortly after that the Dodge clipped a red pickup truck in the intersection of Cincinnati and Baldwin Avenue, spun out and crashed into a parked car, Gregory said.

The driver of the Dodge was arrested, but he was uncooperative and refused to give his name, Gregory said.

“He wouldn’t answer anything,” he said.

Deputies planned to book him into the Spokane County Jail once he was treated for his injuries at a local hospital and identified.