Close calls

POST FALLS — A 30-year-old Post Falls woman is facing multiple charges after allegedly nearly running over police, jeopardizing pedestrians during a pursuit and leaving her two children inside a store.

Kimberlee E. Dunnagan was charged with eluding, two charges of injury to a child and possession of drug paraphernalia and Oxycodon without a prescription after the alleged ordeal at the Walmart on Mullan Avenue.

Post Falls Police responded to the store's parking lot at 9 p.m. Thursday for a report of a woman who was "shaking" and slumped over the steering wheel of a red 2007 Chevy Monte Carlo.

Police said Dunnagan appeared disoriented when she was asked to roll down the window or open the door, allegedly yelled profanities and refused to comply with the commands.

When she began to pull backward out of the parking spot, an officer attempted to break the window with a flashlight, hoping to stop her from fleeing and jeopardizing pedestrians.

Dunnagan allegedly nearly struck a patrol vehicle and officer as she sped away from the parking spot.

"As the vehicle was backing up, I was forced to run ... to avoid being ran over by the suspect vehicle," Officer Daniel Sanicola wrote in his report, adding that Dunnagan showed no regard to the pedestrians.

She then accelerated past the store's main entry before exiting the parking lot.

Dunnagan allegedly blew traffic signals and stop signs on Cecil Road and reached speeds of up to 75 mph in a 35 mph zone as police pursued.

She pulled over on Poleline Avenue at Baldy Way near Greensferry Road and was arrested after she was told by police that a stun gun would be deployed if she didn't comply with commands.

Dunnagan apologized to officers and cried after she stopped, saying that she didn't understand what was happening, according to a police report.

She told an officer that she took her kids to the store so they could get her a birthday present and that she had been waiting in the car for them.

"Kimberlee made several conflicting statements about whether or not her children were left unattended at Walmart during this incident which caused me concern for their welfare," Officer Brenda Knight wrote in her report.

Dispatchers then contacted the children's father, who said he had just gone to the store to get them. The police reports do not state the ages of the children.

"(The father) said that Kimberlee had called him during the pursuit and asked him to go to Walmart and pick them up," Knight wrote.

Dunnagan has bonded out of the Kootenai County Jail since the alleged incident.