Foiled!

POST FALLS - Police answered the call - in more ways than one - when a vehicle and foot chase ensued on Thursday night.

After driver Christopher Charles Zeigen, 41, Rathdrum, became separated from two passengers during the foot pursuit, he called one of the passengers to discuss where to meet up.

Mistake.

Zeigen, not knowing the other two had been caught, revealed to police his whereabouts believing it was a passenger on the other end, not an officer.

"The officers determined the driver's first name was Chris, then the phone rang showing that Chris was calling," said Post Falls police Lt. Greg McLean. "So the officer answered (pretending to be one of the passengers)."

Zeigen was booked into jail for felony eluding and driving while suspended. He was still being held on Friday.

The passengers, Thor Dusk Gust, 32, Post Falls, and Eric William Sanborn, 32, Post Falls, were booked for misdemeanor obstructing. They both posted $300 bonds to be released from jail.

In addition to driving with a suspended license, Zeigen is on probation, so police believe that's why he sped off when an officer attempted to pull him over.

The incident started when an officer saw the Ford truck Zeigen was driving jump a cement median in front of the Chevron station near the intersection of Seltice Way and Ross Point Road.

The officer followed and saw Zeigen allegedly make an improper left-hand turn while heading westbound onto Mullan Avenue from Highway 41. The chase started in a nearby neighborhood after an officer attempted to stop Zeigen.

It continued westbound on Mullan, including next to the police station, where three other police units were waiting to join the pursuit.

The chase reached more than 80 mph and Zeigen allegedly ran a red light at Mullan and Idaho, McLean said.

The truck stopped in the area of 11th Avenue and Catherine, where all three occupants fled on foot.

One passenger surrendered soon after it was announced that the police K-9 unit was being called to the scene; the other was found hiding between air conditioner units in the area of Spokane and 12th.

Zeigen was found after the phone conversation with the officer, fled on a bike and was caught after foot pursuit in the area of 12th and Compton.