Prosecutors charge burglary suspect who fell into Puyallup River while fleeing

Pierce County prosecutors on Wednesday charged a suspected burglar who fell in the Puyallup River while allegedly running from police and later turned up in a stranger’s garage in just his shoes and underwear.

John “Colby” Dherin Bell, 26, was charged with second-degree burglary, second-degree theft, third-degree malicious mischief, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, first-degree criminal trespassing and third-degree driving on a suspended license.

Bell pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was ordered jailed in lieu of $15,000 bail.

Bell was arrested Nov. 26 after he and another man allegedly broke into a landscaping company to steal lawn equipment and then led officers on a high-speed pursuit.

Charging papers give this account:

Police were called to the landscaping company in the 1100 block of Valley Avenue Northwest about 3:45 a.m. and spotted a Nissan pickup truck leaving.

When the officer tried to pull the truck over, it sped away.

Bell, who was driving, drove into oncoming traffic and ran a stop sign. The truck reached 100 miles per hour before slowing down at the Puyallup River Bridge, where both men jumped out.

The pickup continued coasting until it hit a concrete barrier on the bridge overpass.

The passenger ran west and got away.

Bell ran down an icy, mossy embankment near state Route 512 with an officer right behind him. Both men fell, and the officer was hurt but kept going, Capt. Scott Engle said.

The officer used his stun gun on Bell, but it didn’t work. Then Bell tripped on the edge of the embankment.

“The officer reached to grab for the defendant, but the defendant was sliding down the embankment towards the river, and the officer did not have solid footing to be able to prevent the defendant from entering the water,” records state.

Police found Bell’s clothing on the other side of the river but no sign of him.

A man who lives on Fourth Avenue went outside that morning to smoke and noticed his garage light on. Inside he found Bell clad in only his underwear and shoes.

Bell told the man his friend had crashed into the river, so the man gave Bell dry clothes and warmed him in front of a fire before driving him home to Bonney Lake.

Later in the day, the man saw the burglary pursuit on the news and called police. He directed them to the house where he’d dropped off Bell, and Bell was taken into custody.

Bell told police he made bad decisions because he’d recently started using heroin, records state.

Surveillance footage from the landscaping company shows two men break into the property, which is surrounded by barbed wire, and cut the locks on five lockers. The men then stole lawn equipment.

Police said they found four leaf blowers, two line trimmers, a hedge cutter, six spools of wire and copper wire inside the Nissan pickup truck.

The second burglar has not been arrested.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Prosecutors charge burglary suspect who fell into Puyallup River while fleeing."