Police beat: Dog-shaming, a couple going down together, and slow-motion road rage

Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma Police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Jan. 21: Excuses involving dogs tend to involve homework, not traffic violations, but the 17-year-old Spanaway man invented a new kind of canine shame.

The trouble started when a sheriff’s deputy spotted a white Toyota Camry peel out of a parking lot in the 12600 block of Pacific Avenue shortly before 1 a.m.

The Camry was going too fast, the headlights were off, and the tabs were expired. The deputy pulled the driver over and spoke to him.

The 17-year-old said he was upset: His girlfriend just broke up with him over the phone.

Did he know why he was being stopped?

Speeding, the man guessed.

The deputy said the man’s headlights were off. The man said his dog must have accidentally turned off the automatic switch. The dog gave no statement.

The man said he didn’t have a current driver’s license. He handed the deputy an expired license with a hole punched through the corner. He said his license had been suspended, but he thought the restriction had been lifted. He was wrong.

He said the car belonged to his mother, who let him drive it. He didn’t know where she kept the license and registration.

The deputy ran a records check and confirmed the suspended license. He also found an active misdemeanor warrant for a prior traffic violation. He cited the man for driving with a suspended license and handed him a ticket with a court date. He also told him about the warrant.

The man said he didn’t know tickets could turn into warrants. He stayed with the parked Camry until a licensed driver came to pick him up.

Jan. 22: The boyfriend said his girlfriend punched him, but he didn’t want her to go to jail. When he realized he couldn’t prevent it, he demanded to go with her. Denied at first, he got his wish.

Tacoma officers responded to a reported domestic dispute in the 5400 block of South Junett Street. They found the boyfriend, 25, walking outside.

The man told an officer that his girlfriend punched him in the face after he pushed her down during an argument. His left cheek was puffy, and he had a red mark under his eye.

The man said he didn’t want to be a victim. He changed his story after the first telling. He said no assault occurred. As other officers spoke to his girlfriend in the house, he said, “If she’s going, I’m going too.”

Officers spoke to the woman, 29, cuffed her and put her in a patrol car. The man got upset and shouted, “If she’s going, then you’re taking me too, because I pushed her.”

An officer told the man to calm down. He wouldn’t. He tensed, as if he wanted to rush the officers. They told him to back off. He didn’t.

He kept trying to step toward the officers. Finally, they took him down, cuffed him, and put him another car.

The woman agreed to answer questions. She spoke calmly. She said she and her boyfriend argued as he got up to go to work. He pushed her down, she said. She denied punching him.

Officers booked her into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor assault. They booked the man into the jail on suspicion of obstructing an officer.

Jan. 20: The slow-motion road-rage incident left the woman unsettled, and brought her boyfriend to the rescue with an unregistered gun.

At about 11:40 p.m., the woman was driving near the intersection of Bridgeport Way Way West and 27th Street West when she noticed a dark blue 1997 BMW Z3 in the next lane. The driver was staring at her.

The woman pulled away. The other car followed. She drove onto the freeway, then off. The other car followed. She took side streets. The other car followed.

She called her boyfriend, who told her to drive to a nearby grocery store and wait. The boyfriend, 27, grabbed a gun, got into his own car, drove to the store and spotted his girlfriend in the parking lot.

The BMW was parked nearby. As the boyfriend talked to the girlfriend, the man in the BMW drove next to them and started turning doughnuts in the parking lot, his tires squealing, coming perilously close to the couple.

The boyfriend kicked at the BMW as it rolled past, and shouted at the man to go away. He told his girlfriend to drive off; he would keep the BMW driver occupied.

As the boyfriend got into his own car, the BMW pulled up. The driver rushed out and threw a punch at the boyfriend, then broke the driver’s side mirror.

The boyfriend pulled away. The BMW followed. The boyfriend called 911, telling dispatchers his location as the chase continued. The BMW sped in front of him, blocked his path, and tried to induce a crash.

Officers caught up with the combatants at South 19th and Mildred Streets. They spoke to the boyfriend, who told his story and mentioned the gun. Officers noted that the man didn’t have a concealed weapon license. The boyfriend said he bought the gun recently from an acquaintance. Officers cited the man for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, and took charge of it.

They spoke to the BMW driver, who appeared to be drunk. The man, 39, gave an address in Kent. He said he spoke no English, but he seemed to understand questions, and he was coherent enough to say the other guy kicked at his car.

The BMW driver admitted drinking beer earlier. Asked whether he understood his rights, he said yes. Asked to take voluntary sobriety tests, he agreed, and failed them.

At police headquarters, he spoke English and answered questions in English, though he said he only understood Farsi. He said he’d attended Tacoma Community College for the past two years. He talked about his family and his construction job.

Officers booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of drunken driving, malicious mischief and misdemeanor assault.

This story was originally published January 27, 2018 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Police beat: Dog-shaming, a couple going down together, and slow-motion road rage."