Cougar Gulch chase suspect arrested

COEUR d'ALENE — The man who allegedly led an Idaho State Police trooper on a chase on Tuesday, rammed the patrol car and fled on foot in Cougar Gulch was arrested in Spokane early Friday morning.

J. Scott Salmond, 46, Riverside, Calif., was booked into the Spokane County Jail on probation violation charges. However, detectives obtained information that Salmond was also the operator of the stolen vehicle in the Cougar Gulch case, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office.

"Salmond, who is currently on supervised probation for previous drug charges, fled a transitional housing facility in Coeur d’Alene and was located in Spokane," a KCSO press release states.

The release also states shots were fired by the trooper during the incident, but does not state how many. It also does not state whether Salmond had a gun or fired.

"There will not be any more (information) coming out on this due to the active investigation by the Critical Incident Task Force," Kootenai County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger wrote in an email to The Press in response to other questions such as how Salmond was found and specifically where, how he was linked to the Cougar Gulch case and when he fled the transitional housing facility.

Salmond was arrested by the multi-agency North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force while it was acting on investigative leads. He was awaiting extradition to Idaho on Friday. The Critical Incident Task Force is continuing its investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shots fired by the trooper, who is expected to be interviewed next week. The trooper remains on

administrative leave, per ISP policy.

KCSO officials say they are confident there are not other suspects outstanding in Cougar Gulch off U.S. 95 just south of Coeur d'Alene.

The KCSO worked on obtaining fingerprints from the stolen green 2004 Kia Rio Salmond was allegedly driving Tuesday and had been stolen from the area of 12th and Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene on April 10. But KCSO Lt. Stu Miller said obtaining results from the state can take up three months.

The owner of the stolen vehicle told police she went into a downtown business and when she came out, her car was gone.

The stolen car triggered police's BOSS driver's license identification system twice as it passed by Interstate 90 on Monday night and again on Tuesday morning.

The car apparently exited on Spokane Street or Highway 41 in Post Falls on Monday and couldn't be located by police.

When it triggered the system again around 7 a.m. on Tuesday an ISP trooper was in the vicinity and chased the suspect after he allegedly refused to stop. The trooper was not injured in the incident.

The suspect drove southbound on U.S. 95 to the Mica Grade about 8 miles south of Coeur d’Alene.

The pursuit then went north on U.S. 95 to Cougar Gulch Road. After abandoning the car, the suspect fled into a forested area.

The search resulted in a multi-agency manhunt, involving air and ground units, that lasted throughout Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Checkpoints in Cougar Gulch were set up by the KCSO during the search and access was restricted to local residents.