Man arrested after speeding

A 46-year-old man was arrested and taken to Grant County Jail after allegedly trying to elude police early Monday morning.

The vehicle that Ernie Andrew Smith, of 57899 W. Cardinal Road, was driving was allegedly clocked at 50 mph in a 35 mph zone heading east on Alcan Road when Officer Heath Otto gave chase.

Smith lost control of the vehicle and it hit concrete posts protecting a Grand Coulee water main and then continued on until it stopped at 901 King Street, Otto’s report said.

Otto contacted Smith and had him spread-eagled on the ground when Officer Joe Higgs arrived to offer assistance.

At the time, Smith claimed that another person had been driving the vehicle, but those at the house on King Street acknowledged that it had been Smith.

The Cardinal Road resident collected a host of charges. Those included trying to elude police, hit-and-run without notifying anyone of the damage his vehicle caused, resisting arrest, and a first-degree charge of driving while his license was suspended.

The police report stated that a number of vehicle parts were left at the scene where Smith hit the concrete protective posts, and a trail of anti-freeze was followed to where the vehicle ended up.

The report stated that the vehicle was being driven in a “reckless manner” and at one point was in the “wrong lane.”