Spanaway man high on PCP rams deputies twice during wild chase, prosecutors say
A Spanaway man high on PCP rammed the cars of two Pierce County sheriff’s deputies during a chase Wednesday night before rolling his car four times, prosecutors say.
The 27-year-old man was to be arraigned Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court, but court Commissioner Meagan Foley had his arraignment deferred until a mental health evaluation is complete. Until then, the man is to be held without bail.
He faces two counts of second-degree assault, and one count each of attempting to elude police, second-degree malicious mischief, driving under the influence and third-degree driving with a suspended license.
According to charging documents:
A Pierce County deputy saw the man driving at “extreme speeds” at the intersection of South 84th Street and South Hosmer Street in Tacoma and followed the man’s car with lights and sirens on.
The man turned off his headlights in an attempt to stop the deputy from pursuing him and then sped away.
The deputy followed the man’s vehicle through a residential area, where the man reached speeds of 60 mph and had his Toyota Corolla fishtailing as he took corners.
The man stopped for a second, just long enough for the deputy to look him in the eyes. Then he took off again, barreling through a red light at 108th Street South and Park Avenue South at about 50 mph.
The man reached speeds upwards of 90 mph at times as he sped through the red light at 112th Street East and Waller Road East.
The deputy was preparing to perform a PIT maneuver on the man’s car when the man rammed into the deputy’s vehicle, disabling it.
The man kept going as another deputy pursued him.
That deputy quickly prepared to perform a PIT maneuver on the man’s car, and the man rammed into his vehicle, too. This time, the man’s car rolled over four times before coming to a stop upside down.
He was taken from his overturned car at gunpoint.
Deputies asked him why he eluded them; he admitted to being high on PCP. They asked him whether he’d been drinking.
“Yes, dawg, I drank a fifth and a half,” the man responded.
As deputies took the man to an area hospital to conduct a blood draw, the man vomited in the back of a deputy’s vehicle — twice.
The man suffered a broken nose and broken cheekbone as a result of his crash.
Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker
This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Spanaway man high on PCP rams deputies twice during wild chase, prosecutors say."