Know when to stop

SANDPOINT - A Bonner County sheriff's deputy and a Ponderay Police officer brought an abrupt end to a high-speed chase before it could reach Sandpoint's tourist-clogged streets on Sunday morning.

The episode began unfolding shortly before 7 a.m. when a Glengary Bay resident reported that a sport utility vehicle was tearing up his yard and pathway.

Deputy Chris Bonner spotted the SUV on Sagle Road and initiated a traffic stop, according to the arrest report. The driver of the Kia Sorento stopped, but then sped off west toward U.S. Highway 95. Speeds reached 60 mph in the 35 mph zone and another deputy deployed a tire-deflating spike strip at Lignite Road, but the driver swerved around it.

The vehicle sped north toward Sandpoint and Bonner reported seeing two small drug bindles being thrown from the SUV's window. Sandpoint and Ponderay Police converged on the north end of the Long Bridge.

Ponderay Officer Tim Fry deployed another spike strip, which deflated three of the SUV's tires, the report said. The vehicle slowed to a stop near the Superior Street exit, but took off again.

Concerned the determined suspect would continue his flight on downtown streets in a vehicle with compromised control due to damaged tires, Bonner used his patrol vehicle to create a blockade.

The driver of the SUV, however, rammed the patrol rig despite having ample room to stop, the report said. Bonner received minor injuries in the collision.

Kamil Stuchlik, a 15-year-old from Kailua, Hawaii, was arrested after the collision.

Stuchlik was charged with aggravated battery on a law officer and eluding, both of which are felonies. He was also charged with driving under the influence, destruction of evidence, providing false information to a law officer, leaving the scene of a property damage crash, possession of an open container of alcohol and possession of an invalid driver's license.