High-speed chase ends with arrest

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man was arrested early Sunday morning after leading police on a high-speed chase through town.

William Edward Hoygaard is charged with felony eluding and resisting arrest.

An officer on patrol spotted two Subarus racing southbound on Fifth Avenue shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday. One of the cars yielded to lights and sirens, while the other took off west on Church Street.

Speeds reached up to 60 mph through the center of the city’s residential district, according to a probable cause affidavit. The fleeing Subaru was driven to Assembly of God Church on Lincoln Avenue and abandoned.

A couple of hours after the chase, Hoygaard call authorities to report his Subaru Legacy missing and to inquire why police were looking for him, court documents indicate. Hoygaard told police he customarily left his car parked in his driveway with the keys in it and spent the night indoors watching television.

Hoygaard, 27, denied racing down Fifth or leading police on a chase, the affidavit said.

Hoygaard made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Monday via videoconferencing with the jail.

Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall requested bail be set at $20,000 due to the threat to public safety Hoygaard’s actions created. Deputy Public Defender Catherine Enright argued that Hoygaard had strong local ties to the area, was the sole caregiver to his children and a solid employment history.

Judge Lori Meulenberg set Hoygaard’s bail at $15,000.