In brief: North Idaho deputy cleared by jury
A North Idaho jury has cleared a Bonner County sheriff’s deputy against allegations that he used excessive force during a DUI arrest following a crash with injuries on the road to Schweitzer Mountain Resort.
The jury on Friday determined that Deputy Clint Mattingley did not use excessive force during the DUI arrest of Joel W. Petty on March 8, 2008. At issue was Mattingley’s handcuffing of Petty after the deputy responded to an injury accident. According to court records, Petty had an odor of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test. Petty alleged Mattingley used excessive force and caused a rotator cuff injury when the deputy handcuffed him, but the jury did not agree.
Search continues for stabbing suspect
Coeur d’Alene police are searching for a transient suspected of stabbing another man on Monday night.
Police said they have probable cause to arrest James H. Kountz on suspicion of attempted murder, a news release from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said.
On Monday night around 6 p.m., motorists reported seeing a man stagger out of a wooded area on the east side of U.S. Highway 95 near Wilbur Avenue.
The man, a 42-year-old transient, had been stabbed multiple times in his upper torso and once on his face. He was taken to Kootenai Medical Center, where he is listed in stable condition, police said.
He identified his attacker as Kountz, a 43-year-old transient who is known to law enforcement for prior arrests for aggravated battery, the release said.
Officers shut down Highway 95 near Canfield and Wilbur avenues in order to contain the suspect, but did not find him.
Residents are advised to lock their doors and windows and call 911 if they see Kountz in their neighborhoods. Kountz is described as 5-foot-6, 185 pounds and balding with gray hair. He has hazel eyes and was wearing camouflage shorts.
Reward offered for missing earrings
Two sets of diamond earrings valued at $10,000 were stolen from a Spokane Valley home on Saturday, and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for tips that solve the case.
One set contains 14-karat white gold with two solitaire diamonds suspended by a thin gold wire. The second set consists of three diamonds suspended by a small gold wire.
Homeowners in the 2800 block of South Skipworth Road left about noon and returned at 8 p.m. to find their master bedroom ransacked and the earrings gone.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips online. Tipsters do not have to leave their name to collect a reward but should leave a code name or number.
Detectives trying to identify burglar
Detectives are looking for help in identifying a man who burglarized a home in north Spokane County earlier this month.
A photo released Tuesday from the homeowner’s game camera shows a man wearing gloves leaving the back door of the home in the 3100 block of East Deer Park-Milan Road. The homeowners returned from an eight-day vacation June 8 and discovered the break-in, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
The man’s accomplice, identified by police as Christopher John Steinbaugh, 32, was arrested last week on a residential burglary charge.
View the photo online at www.spokesman.com/blogs/sirens.
Detectives are asking for anyone with information on the man’s identity to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233 and reference case #12-176653.
Alleged mail thieves nabbed by police
About 1,000 pieces of mail stolen from hundreds of people in Eastern Washington and North Idaho were recovered in Spokane on Monday.
Police had been investigating the thefts since a woman reported seeing two men and two women in a white car stealing from mailboxes on May 24. A Spokane police officer reported a suspicious vehicle contact on May 26. The occupants he contacted later emerged as suspects in the mail thefts when their names were attached to bank accounts where altered checks had been deposited.
Detectives identified the suspect vehicle as a 1997 Dodge Intrepid belonging to Kyle Croson, 21.
Police searched Croson’s apartment in the 300 block of East Baldwin Avenue on Monday. Candice J. Thompson, 22, and her boyfriend, Eric J. Peltier Jr., 29, were arrested. Peltier told police he and Thompson moved to Spokane from Tacoma about two months ago with their 3-year-old daughter to live with Thompson’s sister, Dominque Ryan. Ryan is Croson’s girlfriend.
Investigators searched the apartment as well as the Dodge Intrepid and a Chevy Malibu, where they recovered the stolen mail.
Croson, Thompson, Peltier and Ryan are charged in U.S. District Court in Spokane.