Body recovered from Spokane River was of man who jumped into river last month seemingly to avoid arrest

A body recovered last week from the Spokane River was of the man who jumped into the river and never resurfaced after police tried to arrest him last month.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as 32-year-old Sol Bagby. His cause and manner of death have not been determined.

Spokane police officers responded the afternoon of Feb. 10 to a domestic violence call at a home on West Water Avenue in Peaceful Valley, Spokane police Lt. Barton Stevens said. They found a suspect, Bagby, by a riverbank close to the Water Avenue home.

Officers called out to Bagby and tried to get him to return from the riverbank, Stevens said. Instead, he entered the water, tried to swim away and got carried down the river.

Stevens said Bagby sunk below the water, and the Spokane Fire Department was called to rescue the man, but first responders never found him.

Bagby was found Thursday floating in the river north of Seven Mile Road near Nine Mile Falls, according to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The body appeared to have been in the water for “some time,” the release said.