Pierce County deputy shoots, kills man outside Fife motel
A Pierce County sheriff’s undercover deputy shot and killed a man outside a Fife motel Tuesday after the man allegedly drove into another deputy.
The shooting happened after a Special Investigations unit arrived about noon at a motel in the 5200 block of 20th Street East. They came to check a room where a 36-year-old felon wanted for several burglaries was possibly staying.
“When they got here, the suspect was in the vehicle, and that’s when the confrontation started,” said sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer, who gave this account of the incident:
Deputies in an unmarked patrol car blocked in the felon so he couldn’t drive away, but the man refused to cooperate. A woman in the car was taken into custody on an arrest warrant.
The man then drove over a curb and backed into a patrol car. Deputies pepper sprayed him, and the man pulled his car forward.
“He did it a second time and physically hit one of our deputies, knocking him down,” Troyer said. “Before he backed over our deputy again, the other deputy fired.”
Emergency responders performed CPR, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. He has not been identified.
The deputy hit by the vehicle suffered minor injuries.
“We’re lucky that our guy is just going to suffer some minor bumps and bruises,” Troyer said. “Our other guy probably saved his life by shooting him (the felon), making sure that he didn’t back over him a second time.”
Troyer said law enforcement agencies in multiple counties were looking for the car driven by the man in connection with a burglary and other crimes.
The car is registered in Snohomish County and did not appear to belong to the man or the woman he was with.
The man’s list of criminal offenses is long, court records show. All of his convictions, including for assault, possession of stolen property and several drug offenses, are in Pierce County.
He had a pending case filed in March 2016 in Superior Court.
He was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, obstructing a police officer, attempting to elude police and third-degree driving with a suspended license.
Court documents from that case showed the man lived in Tacoma at the time.
Staff photographer Drew Perine contributed to this report.
Stacia Glenn: 253-597-8653
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published March 14, 2017 at 5:09 PM with the headline "Pierce County deputy shoots, kills man outside Fife motel."