10-21-2005, 11:31 AM
Quote:SPOKANE, Wash. -- Three Spokane County sheriff's deputies accused of staging a phony high-speed chase as a prank have been placed on administrative leave and may face criminal charges, Sheriff Mark Sterk said Friday.
The downtown pursuit on Oct. 3 involved a uniformed deputy in a marked sheriff's patrol car chasing two plainclothes deputies who were driving an unmarked Ford Mustang.
The pursuit ended when city police officers, who rushed to assist, disabled the Mustang with a spike strip on a downtown street.
The police officers were not aware that the chase was phony and have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
"We have completed much of our administrative review of the incident, and it appears sheriff's office policy was violated," Sterk said. "Based on that, I have suspended the three deputies pending a review of the incident for criminal charges."
The incident has been called "horseplay that has gone seriously awry," by sheriff's spokesman Dave Reagan.
The three deputies had just completed a traffic stop east of downtown Spokane and were headed to the Public Safety Building to end their shifts. When the deputy in the marked car turned on the car's emergency lights, deputies in the unmarked Mustang accelerated, Reagan said.
After the cars entered the city, a Spokane police officer saw the chase and joined in.
Other police officers heard radio calls about the chase and laid a spike strip across a street about three blocks from the Public Safety Building, flattening one of the Mustang's tires.
The undercover deputy who was driving got out of the car as police officers pointed guns at him, Reagan said.
Another Spokane police officer arrived at the scene and quickly got out of his car to assist, but apparently left his car in gear, Reagan said. That vehicle rolled through a cable fence and struck a pole, causing about $2,200 damage. The cost for the spike strip and a replacement tire on the Mustang was estimated at about $400.
State law says policing agencies must have reasonable and necessary reasons to break traffic laws, Reagan said.