A man accused of fleeing from a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy at speeds up to 100 mph in the Elk Plain area had a baby in his truck, according to charging papers.
Jessie Vernon Parker, 30, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of attempting to elude police, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and two counts of driving with a suspended license and obstructing police.
Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set his bail at $50,000.
According to court records:
Parker has had more than one run-in with the Sheriff’s Department this year.
On Jan. 16, a deputy was near 276th Street East and 44th Avenue East, south of Elk Plain, to arrest Parker’s sister, who had a warrant.
The deputy saw Parker driving near the sister’s home. Parker stopped his truck suddenly, quickly backed up and fled to his sister’s driveway. The deputy turned on his patrol car’s emergency lights, and followed.
Parker flipped off the deputy and shouted at him, but the deputy didn’t try to arrest him then “because of the defendant’s level of noncompliance,” the charging papers state.
This week, the same deputy saw a truck going 70 mph in a 55 mph area about 2 a.m. Wednesday in the 24000 block of Mountain Highway East. As the deputy tried to pull the truck over, the driver fled, and at one point turned off the truck’s headlights.
The chase ended at a home south of Elk Plain, and the deputy recognized the truck and the home from the January incident.
He ordered Parker out of the truck at gunpoint. When Parker complied, the deputy saw he had what looked like an empty knife sheath on his hip.
Parker then stopped complying, and shouted racially tinged profanity at the deputy, while refusing orders to get on the ground.
That’s when the deputy realized that a woman, who identified herself as Parker’s friend, and her 18-month-old baby had been in Parker’s truck during the chase.
She said she had told Parker to stop the truck but he’d refused.
In the process of being arrested, Parker kicked the deputy a couple times, and kept shouting profanity, according to charging papers.
As part of Parker’s arraignment, Foley ordered that, should he post bail, he is not to transport minors and must obey speed limits.
Alexis Krell: 253-597-8268, @amkrell
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