ELK CITY, ID – Idaho County deputies arrested a Harpster man early Friday morning following an extended search that began with a failed traffic stop and escalated into a vehicle-ramming incident in the backcountry, according to the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies first attempted to stop the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Daniel Key, on the afternoon of December 4 after locating him in a green and white Ford F-250 towing a homemade trailer on Bullock Lane. The Sheriff’s Office reports that Key fled onto American River Road, leading deputies for about three miles before the pursuit was discontinued due to deteriorating weather and road conditions.
Roughly two hours later, deputies patrolling the Table Meadows Road area on a side-by-side located Key and the truck descending toward O’Hare Saddle. The Sheriff’s Office says Key steered the pickup into the side-by-side, ramming it multiple times. Deputies managed to exit the vehicle before impact. Key then fled on foot into the forest.
Deputies continued the search through the night. At about 7:00 a.m. on December 5, Key was spotted driving a small blue pickup. After a brief foot chase, he was taken into custody and evaluated by Elk City Ambulance for hypothermia before being booked into the Idaho County Jail.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Key was wanted on five existing Idaho County warrants, including two felony eluding charges, misdemeanor disturbing the peace, misdemeanor eluding and resisting/obstructing, and a misdemeanor probation violation. Additional charges stemming from the incident include felony malicious injury to property, felony possession of methamphetamine, misdemeanor leaving the scene of an accident, misdemeanor marijuana possession, two counts of possession of paraphernalia, two counts of resisting and obstructing, and another count of misdemeanor eluding.
No deputies were injured.
The Sheriff’s Office also thanked Elk City residents who provided off-road vehicles to help deputies search rugged terrain and retrieve the damaged side-by-side.
All charges remain allegations, and Key is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
