Dispatchers praised for handling of domestic call

POST FALLS - Two Post Falls Police communications officers helped locate a Post Falls man who allegedly threatened to kill himself and his girlfriend early Sunday by driving off a cliff.

In a memo to the employees that was posted on Facebook, Post Falls Police Sgt. Jason Mealer praised communications officers Joanie Huska and Nicole Leslie for showing dedication in tracking the vehicle through GPS technology during frantic moments.

"You received a 911 open line and determined there was a verbal domestic happening," Mealer wrote. "After listening to the phone call, you were able to determine the call was coming from a vehicle and the male heard in the background was threatening to kill the female by crashing."

Terrence O'Reilly, 58, Post Falls, was arrested for domestic assault and reckless driving. Bond was set at $2,000. O'Reilly was released from the Kootenai County jail after posting bond on Monday.

According to the police report, an open 911 call was received from the area of Third Avenue and Scott Street.

Comments made during the argument revealed a strained relationship and threats by the male to kill himself and his girlfriend, according to police.

"The female voice was only noticed as saying, 'Pull over and I will drive,'" the police report states.

Communication officers provided patrol updates on the comments and the areas of travel by the vehicle, which included Interstate 90, Highway 41 and back to the Third Avenue area.

An officer located the vehicle, O'Reilly and his girlfriend at their apartment on Scott Street, where O'Reilly cooperated, apologized and told police that he "wasn't serious about anything."

"Terrence said that they were just having an argument over nothing and that police had been there before for disputes, but he loved (her) and they were going to counseling to try to help the relationship," the police report states.

The female told police that the two had been drinking earlier in the evening when O'Reilly drove erratically in Post Falls and on the freeway.

"She said that he drove them all the way to Kingston driving erratically and saying that he was going to drive into the river and kill them," the police report states.

"She said at one point she was so sure she was going to die that she even called her two sons and told them goodbye. She told me that she tried to keep quiet so as to not make the situation worse because she had never seen him like that."