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draggonlaadyBY KATHLEEN BOYD Wednesday, August 11, 2004 9:34 AM PDT
S-E Staff Reporter
Although he won't win any medals for the feat, Stevens County Sheriff's deputy Iain Ashley will go down in Northeast Washington history as the cop who broke the case of the Loon Lake Bigfoot sightings.
The Sasquatch sightings began the day before Easter on the lonely roads around Loon Lake. Motorists would spot a large, hairy being in their headlights. The beast would be moving stealthily in long, flowing strides, looking back over his shoulder, imitating the popular film clip shot by Roger Patterson in the 1960s.
Although Deputy Ashley had responded to several sightings of the beast, it wasn't until he was driving home at the end of his shift one night in June that he actually cracked the case.
As he turned a corner near Granite Point, his headlights struck the hulking mass of what looked to him like a gorilla.
He quickly flipped a U-turn, turned on his lights and chirped his siren. At that point, Bigfoot took off running.
"That's really what gave him away," Ashley said. "He was trying to run up a hill and wasn't doing very well."
When the officer yelled for the apparition to stop, it did. Inside what turned out to be a gorilla suit, was 17-year-old Chayse Pirello of Spokane Valley.
Along with friends Brad Burger and Ryan Quaintance, Pirello had been perpetrating the hoax in the Loon Lake area for several months.
"This thing has been through a lot of bushes," Pirello said of the gorilla suit.
Although no crime had been committed, the boys are no longer prowling the highways and byways of Loon Lake in search of victims.
When Pirello asked Deputy Ashley to critique his performance the deputy was basically positive.
"You were very convincing," Ashley told the young man. "Other than the fact that you're 5-foot-8 and don't run very fast."
No real point to that, just posted for the amusement factor.
S-E Staff Reporter
Although he won't win any medals for the feat, Stevens County Sheriff's deputy Iain Ashley will go down in Northeast Washington history as the cop who broke the case of the Loon Lake Bigfoot sightings.
The Sasquatch sightings began the day before Easter on the lonely roads around Loon Lake. Motorists would spot a large, hairy being in their headlights. The beast would be moving stealthily in long, flowing strides, looking back over his shoulder, imitating the popular film clip shot by Roger Patterson in the 1960s.
Although Deputy Ashley had responded to several sightings of the beast, it wasn't until he was driving home at the end of his shift one night in June that he actually cracked the case.
As he turned a corner near Granite Point, his headlights struck the hulking mass of what looked to him like a gorilla.
He quickly flipped a U-turn, turned on his lights and chirped his siren. At that point, Bigfoot took off running.
"That's really what gave him away," Ashley said. "He was trying to run up a hill and wasn't doing very well."
When the officer yelled for the apparition to stop, it did. Inside what turned out to be a gorilla suit, was 17-year-old Chayse Pirello of Spokane Valley.
Along with friends Brad Burger and Ryan Quaintance, Pirello had been perpetrating the hoax in the Loon Lake area for several months.
"This thing has been through a lot of bushes," Pirello said of the gorilla suit.
Although no crime had been committed, the boys are no longer prowling the highways and byways of Loon Lake in search of victims.
When Pirello asked Deputy Ashley to critique his performance the deputy was basically positive.
"You were very convincing," Ashley told the young man. "Other than the fact that you're 5-foot-8 and don't run very fast."
No real point to that, just posted for the amusement factor.
