Contents of car released
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 12 years, 10 months AGO
Law enforcement investigators released a list of items found inside the car of a Coeur d'Alene man who was shot by police Monday morning at the conclusion of a chase that ended in a Hayden residential area.
According to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department, 33-year-old Justin Earl Nicholas Todd had a wig, clothing, false identifications, three cell phones, drug paraphernalia and six cans of black spray paint in the vehicle.
Investigators also found a knife, a brass knuckle-stun gun combination weapon, and a police scanner that was operating and tuned to local law enforcement frequencies, a sheriff's press release said Wednesday.
Todd had an extensive criminal history, with 23 previous bookings as an adult and 25 warrants charging him with a variety of crimes from trafficking in methamphetamine to felony eluding.
At the time of this incident there was an active warrant in Kootenai County charging Todd with felony eluding.
Multiple officers fired at Todd, striking him. He was taken to Kootenai Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
The item list was reported after investigators completed processing Todd's 1980s Nissan Sentra. They determined the car had recently been painted from blue to white.
Sheriff spokesman Maj. Ben Wolfinger said Todd might have planned to use the cans of black spray paint to change the color of the vehicle again.
On Wednesday, investigators completed interviews with the officers involved in the chase and shooting of Todd.
A final autopsy report is anticipated in three to five weeks from a pathologist, Wolfinger said.
Investigators now will take the next several days compiling all of the information in preparation of providing the entire report to Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh, who will consider the officers' use of force.
Idaho State Police tried to stop Todd after his car tripped an alert system on Interstate 90 that detects stolen vehicles and fugitives. In this case the system was activated for a wanted person.
When Todd refused to stop a chase started, ending at a cul-de-sac in Hayden's Caravelle Estates between Honeysuckle and Prairie avenues west of North Ramsey Road.
Two Post Falls police officers joined in the pursuit to assist the state trooper.
The chase lasted nearly 20 minutes.
The trooper got out of his vehicle near St. Estephe Court and Bordeaux Drive in the Hayden neighborhood, when authorities said Todd hit the trooper with his vehicle.
That's when he was shot.
A female passenger had been riding with Todd. She was uninjured, authorities said, but after complaining of feeling ill she was taken to Kootenai Medical Center to be checked out.
The trooper received minor injuries and was treated and released.
The sheriff's department is the lead agency in the investigation.