Police seek driver after high-speed chase

Grand Coulee and tribal police are looking for a 28-year-old Nespelem man who avoided capture after a 100-mile-an-hour chase Dec. 12, that ended up on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Michael D. Desautel, Jr., was seen by Tribal Police Cpl. Harold Allan Oneal, at Coulee Gas and informed police dispatch of the incident. Oneal knew the red 2012 Ford Escape had been reported stolen from Melvin Zacherle, a Nespelem resident.

Dispatch notified Grand Coulee officer Dan Holland, who saw Desautel get into the car at the gas station, across the street from the Grand Coulee police station, and pull out onto Midway Avenue. Holland pursued him.

Desautel pulled over after seeing Holland’s blue lights at Van Tyne and Morrison, where the suspect was told to put his hands out the driver’s window, then use his left hand to shut the engine off.

But as Holland approached with his gun drawn, the driver took off.

Holland and Oneal gave chase through Coulee Dam and Elmer City at speeds over 100 mph, and later turned off on a Bureau of Indian Affairs dirt road. The officers pursued Desautel near the Keller Butte area and then back to Nespelem but lost him somewhere along the way.

When Desautel is found, he faces charges of attempting to elude police, possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, and obstructing a police officer.

The report was sent to the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office.