Manhunt underway near Arlee

ARLEE — As the Leader went to press, one of two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody while the other remained at large after a cross-county car chase led to a manhunt involving multiple jurisdictions Monday afternoon.

Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin said the chase began shortly after 2 p.m. when a Montana Highway Patrol officer could not get a passenger car heading southbound on U.S. Highway 93 to pull over for a traffic violation near Ravalli. As the pursuit evolved, the officer discovered that the vehicle was registered to a Superior resident and had been reported stolen.

Heading toward Arlee, the driver of the vehicle drove the car into a remote area, a move that Yonkin said is a red flag for law enforcement personnel that could be sign of an ambush. The move put officers on guard — backup was called in from Lake and Missoula Counties to aid in catching the car thieves.

Traveling over icy rural roads, it wasn’t more than 30 minutes before the chase ended with the passenger car crashing into a tree, deploying the airbags. Within the few minutes it took for law enforcement to arrive, the two male suspects had left the car and taken off running into the woods a sign that neither was injured in the crash.

Shortly after the crash occurred at 2:25 p.m., the search for the fugitives ensued. Police combed the woods, following footprints and items left near the site of the crash, according to radio traffic.

Around 4 p.m., one of the men was found hiding near a tree and half an hour later Michael Assiniboine, Jr., 26 of St. Ignatius, was taken into custody.

The search continued into the evening, but the other suspect remains at large, Yonkin said.

Officials on the scene called for a K-9 unit to aid in the search for the other male believed to have escaped from the crash. The police dog was also used to search for a firearm that officers believe was thrown from the vehicle or discarded by the suspects after they began on foot, though nothing has been located as of yet.

Assiniboine was taken to tribal jail and it is unknown at this time if he was the driver or the passenger of the car.