Now, Johnson wants the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department to pay.

Johnson contends the car wouldn’t have sped through the intersection if sheriff’s deputies hadn’t been pursuing it. He claims in a civil lawsuit that deputies violated department policy when they initiated the pursuit and then failed to call it off when it became dangerous to the public.

He seeks monetary damages to compensate him for his medical expenses and pain and suffering. He cited damages of more than $924,000 in a claim submitted to the county in 2005.

“Dino will not be the person he was before this pursuit began, nor will he have the same opportunities,” his attorney, Karen Kay, told a Pierce County jury Tuesday during her opening statement in Johnson’s personal injury trial. “Had the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department erred on the side of caution and safety and followed their own rules and regulations, we would not be here today.”

Deputy prosecutor Ron Williams, who is defending the Sheriff’s Department, said during his opening statement that the county sympathizes with Johnson but that he’s pursuing the wrong party.

“This case is actually very simple,” Williams told the jury. “The question you have to answer is, Who’s to blame? The answer is obvious. It’s the people who hit him.”

Deputies had good reason to chase Lamar Stephens and Michelle Thompson and followed regulations in doing so, Williams said.

The pair tried to run down deputies Scott Wheeler and Eric Carlson before driving wildly through the streets of Tacoma and unincorporated Pierce County, the deputy prosecutor said.

Both sides are expected to call expert witnesses to give opinions about the deputies’ actions that day and their supervisors’ decision-making in allowing the pursuit to continue.

The chase began sometime after 10 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 7300 block of South Wilkeson Street in Tacoma.

Wheeler and Carlson went there to arrest Stephens, who was wanted on a warrant charging him with escape.

The deputies spotted him in the parking lot and told him to stop, according to court records. Instead, he and Thompson jumped into a Dodge Intrepid, with Thompson behind the wheel. She ignored further commands to stop and drove out of the parking lot at high speed.

Deputy Wheeler, the first witness in the case, testified Tuesday that he had to take evasive action to avoid being hit by the fleeing Intrepid.

Kay asked him if that made him angry.

“I was, I think, more in awe of their actions prior to leaving the parking lot,” Wheeler testified.

Thompson later sped through Tacoma and the southern suburbs with Wheeler and Carlson and another sheriff’s car in pursuit before colliding with Johnson at the intersection of 112th Street South and Yakima Avenue South. Thompson and Stephens were apprehended at the scene and later convicted and sent to prison – Thompson for vehicular assault, and Stephens for escape.

Johnson, who was attending Pacific Lutheran University on a ROTC scholarship at the time, suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, a broken pelvis and other injuries, his attorney said.

He underwent five surgeries following the crash, Kay said.

Wheeler was describing the pursuit – including driving as fast at 70 mph in some residential areas – when court was recessed for the day.

He’s expected back on the stand this morning.

Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644

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