Stoned Spokane driver totals his rental

SPOKANE, Wash., May 25 (UPI) -- Police in Washington state said an allegedly inebriated driver destroyed a vehicle he had rented after totaling his own vehicle while under the influence.

David Britt, 21, was hospitalized Tuesday after slamming his Chevy Tahoe into a parked pickup truck while being pursued by Spokane Valley police officers who said they saw him fly through an intersection at an estimated 70 mph shortly after midnight.

He told police the Chevy was a rental he had been driving since he had wrecked his own pickup while driving under the influence of cocaine.

The high-speed chase ended with the Tahoe crashing through a power pole and an iron fence before striking a parked truck at the Whimsical Pig apartments.

The sport utility vehicle was going fast enough that it knocked a large landscaping boulder in front of the apartments about 200 feet, police said in a written statement.

Britt, who allegedly reeked of alcohol, said he had been using cocaine prior to the crash. He made the statement after being zapped with a Taser for refusing to surrender, police said.

Police said the damage toll was in the thousands of dollars.