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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sirens & Gavels

Police chase ends with fatal crash

Investigators work the scene of a fatal logging truck/automobile crash Monday on Highway  395 south of Hatch road.  (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
Investigators work the scene of a fatal logging truck/automobile crash Monday on Highway 395 south of Hatch road. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

A driver being pursued by Spokane County sheriff’s deputies crashed head-on into a semi-truck and died Monday after driving for about a mile with a flat tire caused by law enforcement spike strips.

Several motorists reported a red Ford Taurus driving erratically near Deer Park about noon.

Deputies spotted the car driving southbound on U.S. Highway 395, but the driver refused to stop.

The Washington State Patrol laid out spike strips near Hatch Road, which flattened the car’s right front tire, according to the Spokane Police Department, which is investigating the incident with WSP and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

But the car didn’t stop, and about a mile south of the spike strips, it crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed into a northbound semi-truck hauling logs, police said.

The driver of the Taurus, who has not been publicly identified, was pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver, whose identity also was withheld, was not injured but his truck sustained substantial damage.

The two deputies involved in the pursuit, whose names have not been released, brief investigators on the crash Monday afternoon at WSP headquarters on North Division Street, sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Reagan confirmed.

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