A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a 39-year-old suspected car thief early Saturday in Tacoma.
Two deputies in a patrol car confronted the suspect, Aaron Westby, in a stolen pickup parked in an alley near South 19th Street and Yakima Avenue around 5:30 a.m., according to sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.
A struggle ensued as the deputies attempted to arrest him. They tased Westby, but he continued to fight.
One of the deputies shot Westby with one round after Westby said he had a gun and reached for the glove box, Troyer said. The man was dead at the scene.
Tacoma police searched the truck after obtaining a search warrant and did not find a weapon, police spokesman Mark Fulghum said Saturday night.
“Once he said he did have a gun, we treat it the same,” Troyer said. “We don’t wait to find out.”
Westby was wanted on warrants for assault and escaping from community custody, Troyer said.
In 2005, Westby ran several Pierce County sheriff’s deputies off the road, then fled on foot and hit a deputy on the top of the head, according to court documents. Westby was convicted of four counts of assault, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle and resisting arrest in that incident.
The deputies responded Saturday to a report of a stolen vehicle in the area after making a drop-off at the Pierce County Jail, Troyer said. When the truck was stolen, it was reported that a gun was in it, Troyer said.
Troyer said Westby would have faced a third-strike offense and life in prison without parole because of the incident.
Tacoma police are investigating Saturday’s incident. The involved deputies are on paid administrative leave, as is normal in officer-involved shootings. Troyer said the deputy who fired his gun had 10 years of law enforcement experience, with five years in corrections and five on patrol.
Troyer said the pickup, a new-model red Ford, was reported stolen out of the Puyallup area Friday. Westby had several briefcases he appeared to be loading into the truck. Fulghum said the search of the truck determined those briefcases contained nothing significant.
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
Adam Ashton: 253-597-8646
adam.ashton@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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