New K-9 partner captures reckless driver

A K-9 new to the Spokane Valley Sheriff’s Office helped capture a reckless driver after one mile of tracking.

Just before three a.m. Sunday, Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Marc Melville was passed near Yale and Woolard Road  by the driver of a vehicle going an estimated 100 miles per hour. He attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver blew past a stop sign and continued speeding.

Eventually, Deputy Melville found the vehicle in a ditch at 6414 East Elk-Chattaroy Road. Two people were still inside the vehicle unhurt and the driver had fled.

Sheriff’s Deputy J. Thurman and his new K-9 partner Laslo were sent out to the scene and after a mile of tracking the K-9 found the driver, 27-year-old Vyacheslav Kostenyuk.

Once arrested, Kostenyuk asked Deputy Melville to get his phone out of the car he left behind and while the deputy wasn’t able to find the phone he did find a bag of methamphetamine.

Kostenyuk was booked for Felony Eluding. Other charges are pending.

This was Laslo’s first track since becoming a K-9.