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At about 3 p.m. that day, Idaho State Police Trooper Dustin Kralik stopped a black 2001 Toyota Corolla on Highway 95 near mile 509 at 3 p.m. after having watched it traveling west on Highway 2 and turn left at the Three Mile traffic light onto Highway 95.
Instead of pulling into the nearest lane, the driver drove into the southbound outside lane, prompting Kralic to make the stop. While running IDs from his patrol vehicle, Kralic watched the as-yet unidentified passenger, who'd been picked up hitch hiking, bolt from the car, sprint up the steep embankment and disappear over the top in the general direction of the landfill, prompting a multiple agency manhunt that ended with the capture of Alex A. O'Connor, 26, Coeur d'Alene.
He was recognized after slipping through the cordon of searchers and going into the Three Mile Store, where he was recognized. He fled, only to be captured across Highway 95 at 8:11 p.m. thanks to alert employees at the store.
Kralik met O'Connor at the jail afterwards, and asked him why he'd run.
"Why do you think?" O'Connor replied. "I have a warrant!"
He was jailed on charges of resisting and obstructing arrest, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia, the latter later dismissed, to which he pled not guilty.
A jury found otherwise on Tuesday, December 19, convicting him on both counts. Judge Justin Julian sentenced him to time served, fined him $142.50 and $157.50 costs for resisting and obstructing, and a fine of $102.50 and $197.50 costs for the misdemeanor drug possession count.