A shirtless, hatchet-wielding man was Tasered and then arrested Monday after he took a Pierce County sheriff’s patrol car and led deputies on a short pursuit in East Pierce County.
Deputies responded to a neighborhood complaint in the 17200 block of 84th Avenue Court East about 7:30 a.m. in the Graham area. They found the shirtless man, walking around with a hatchet and “acting crazy,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.
The deputies Tasered the man, but he was able to use the hatchet to break the window of a patrol car, climb inside and drive off, Troyer said.
The man drove down 176th Street East and turned onto Canyon Road East. Deputies chased the cruiser and were able to disable it in the 10900 block of Canyon Road East.
The man was uncooperative with deputies, who got him out of the car, Tasered him again and took him into custody.
Before deputies were able to stop the patrol car it sideswiped several other vehicles. No deputies were hurt in the chase, Troyer said, but others suffered minor injuries.
Suzanne Freeborn said the stolen cruiser hit her former father-in-law’s car as he drove down 176th Street East to a doctor’s appointment. Robert Freeborn’s car spun around twice after being hit and was totalled, Suzanne Freeborn said. The 83-year-old man suffered a cut on his hand, she said.
The larger concern, she said, is his totalled car and how he would get to his weekly doctor appointment Wednesday. He is battling leukemia and lives in a South Hill retirement home.
“He doesn’t have a penny to buy a car,” Suzanne Freeborn said. “He doesn’t have money to rent a car.”
Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268
stacey.mulick@thenewstribune.com
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