Wanted man slips away in sagebrush

Police are looking for a Grand Coulee man who eluded them after they tried to arrest him Sunday on a warrant out of Grant County.

Local police are asking the county prosecutor’s office to add a charge of “escape in the 3rd degree” to the outstanding warrant issued on Tom Waters, of 221 Bowen Street, Grand Coulee.

Officer Matt Ponusky thought he saw Waters walking north on SR-155 near Snyder Road and called in fellow officer Adam Florenzen.

Ponusky stopped in front of Waters near the intersection of SR-155 and Spokane Way and yelled at him that he was under arrest on the warrant.

The report stated that Waters just looked at him and then headed into the sagebrush toward the transfer station in Delano, where a chase through the brush ensued.

Meanwhile, Florenzen had arrived in his patrol car and attempted to head Waters off while Ponusky chased on foot.

Waters was seen about 100 yards from the Delano Transfer Station, where he briefly sat down, but as the officers closed in on him they again lost sight of him in the tall sagebrush.

Waters still hadn’t been apprehended Tuesday.