Washington man arrested in Coeur d'Alene after three pursuits in seven hours

A Washington man was charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after three police pursuits within seven hours led to his arrest in Coeur d'Alene on Sunday.

Walcy V. Ngirngotel, 25, of Olympia, is facing two counts of felony eluding, one count of aggravated assault on a peace officer, resisting/obstructing, DUI, driving without privileges, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and striking fixtures upon or adjacent to a highway. He may face additional charges in Bonner County.

Around 1 a.m. Sunday, a deputy from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office attempted to pull over a 1998 Dodge 1500 for a traffic violation. The driver failed to stop for the deputy and a pursuit ensued. The pursuit was eventually terminated by the deputy due to the "extreme reckless manner in which the suspect was driving" in a residential area, according to the press release by KCSO.

Later in the morning, the Bonner County Sheriff's Office reported they had attempted to stop the same truck. Again, the suspect fled and the pursuit was terminated for safety reasons.

Units from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and Kootenai County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of a reckless driver around 7:30 a.m. Sunday in the area of Northwest Boulevard and Ironwood Drive. The 911 caller reported a Dodge truck driving recklessly, running red lights and failing to maintain its lane of travel on Government Way, north of Appleway. The caller followed the vehicle to the Riverstone Addition where deputies located Ngirngotel in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn. The suspect drove off again in a reckless manner.

During the pursuit, Ngirngotel drove over a set of spike strips deployed by the Coeur d'Alene police on Lakewood Drive, and attempted to ram an officer head-on along Ironwood Drive. Ngirngotel lost control of the vehicle at that point and his truck left the road, striking the traffic control box and ripping the driver's side rear tire from the truck, disabling the vehicle, as well as the traffic lights at the intersection of Ironwood and Northwest Boulevard.

As he exited the vehicle to flee on foot, Ngirngotel grabbed a pump action .22LR rifle from the vehicle. A perimeter was quickly set up and he was taken into custody without further incident after he was found hiding behind large air conditioner units on the back side of a commercial building in the 2500 block of North Old Mill Loop. The rifle was located and it appeared Ngirngotel had broken it into two pieces. There was a live round in the chamber.

Ngirngotel was taken to the Kootenai County jail.

No injuries were reported in any of the events of the morning.