Coulee City man arrested after police chase, crashes into canal

A Coulee City man is in jail after a police chase around the back roads near Quincy, according to a statement from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. 

Cody William Seely, 38, was booked into Grant County Jail on Monday on charges of first-degree theft, first-degree criminal trespassing and attempting to elude a police vehicle, according to the Grant County Jail roster. He was still in jail Tuesday morning, according to the roster. No bail was listed. 

At about 10:15 a.m., deputies received a report that a hydraulic radiator had been stolen from a business in the 3000 block of Road E Northwest, near Ephrata. The theft occurred at 3 or 4 a.m., according to the business owner, who identified Seely as the thief. 

Deputies found Seely driving a flatbed truck with the hydraulic radiator aboard, the GCSO wrote. Seely fled and led the deputies on a pursuit around the rural Quincy area, which ended when Seely crashed the truck into an irrigation canal.  

Seely was previously arrested in October 2020 on probation violations stemming from underlying charges of possession of a controlled substance, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives. In December 2023 he was arrested and booked on second-degree criminal trespass and second-degree possession of stolen property, as well as Grant County Superior Court warrants relating to second-degree criminal trespass and second-degree possession of stolen property.