Gig Harbor police chase ends with flaming car plunging into ravine, K-9 pursuit
A shoplifting suspect in a stolen SUV rammed a Gig Harbor police car on Saturday, then led officers on a chase that ended only when the vehicle caught fire and plunged into a wooded ravine.
The suspect, a 25-year-old Gig Harbor man, was arrested after a Pierce County Sheriff’s K-9 unit tracked him through heavy brush to a travel trailer at a residence in the 5400 block of 25th Avenue Northwest. The man had broken into the trailer and locked himself inside, according to police.
Police said the pursuit began about 10:14 p.m. Dec. 18 at Ross Dress for Less, 2041 S. 55th St. NW, when an officer checking parked cars ran the SUV’s plates and found it was reported stolen. The officer watched as a man left the store and got into the truck. When the officer tried to contact the driver, police said, the car sped away, colliding as it did with a second police car responding to help. Because the driver was suspected of a felony assault, a police supervisor authorized a pursuit.
The fleeing SUV led police on a winding chase through the Shore Acres neighborhood of Gig Harbor, at one point careening across a lawn in the 2400 block of 50th Street Court Northwest. On 55th Street Northwest, the undercarriage of the vehicle caught fire, police said, and it plunged, flaming, into a ravine near Hollycroft Street.
Police said the driver then fled on foot into a heavily wooded and brushy area, where he was lost for a time. But officers found a shoe, which was shown to K-9 Ammo, the sheriff’s dog. The dog followed the scent to the travel trailer, which had been locked from the inside. An officer found a broken window and aimed a taser at the suspect, who surrendered.
The SUV turned out to be stolen, police said, and contained drug paraphernalia. The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular assault, hit-and-run, felony evading, burglary and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Fight in McDonald’s drive-thru
Police responding to a fight at a Gig Harbor drive-through ended up arresting one of the combatants.
The 38-year-old old Gig Harbor man was the driver of a Mustang that rear-ended another car about 9:45 p.m. Dec. 17 in the drive-through lane of a McDonald’s restaurant at 5500 Olympic Dr., police said. A fight broke out between the two drivers, and the Mustang driver got the worst of it, officers reported. Angry at being beaten, he then picked a fight with responding officers and had to be handcuffed, according to police. He was warned and released.
Swarm of car prowls
Thieves have been doing their holiday shopping inside other people’s cars, according to police reports.
▪ Someone took $200 in cash, a pair of expensive prescription sunglasses, credit cards, a pair of Bose headphones and a laptop computer from a car parked in the 400 block of Harbor Country Drive on Dec. 16.
▪ Three laptop computers and a set of keys were taken from a car parked at Seven Seas Brewing, 2905 Harbor Dr. on Dec. 15. The same day, a laptop computer and a wallet were taken from a car parked in the 7800 block of Insel Avenue. Also on Dec. 15, a catalytic converter was stolen from a car left at the Pierce Transit Park and Ride lot at 6808 Kimball Dr., and sunglasses and a Garmin GPS receiver, both valued at $150, were taken from a car in the 4600 block of Bear Creek Lane.
▪ A backpack, a set of keys and a pair of Airpods were stolen Dec. 13 from a car parked at Half-Time Saloon, 5114 Pt. Fosdick Dr. The backpack had a tracking device, which led to an address in North Tacoma, but it could not be found.
Unique take on no-chase law
A driver who took a broad view of a new state law was detained after a brief car chase on Dec. 17, police said.
An officer had attempted to pull over a Honda Civic on Borgen Boulevard for expired license tabs, but the car failed to stop for several blocks. When finally stopped, the 33-year-old driver explained that he thought a new state law meant he didn’t have to stop for police unless he had committed a violent crime. (The new law actually forbids police pursuits at high speed without probable cause or evidence of a violent crime.)
The driver turned out to have numerous outstanding warrants from Bremerton, Fife and Puyallup, and drug paraphernalia was visible in the car, police said. He was cited for the tags and given a drug counseling referral.
Shoe store targeted again
A shoplifter stole four pairs of Nike shoes from Famous Footwear, 5151 Borgen Blvd., on Dec. 15, police reported. The suspect was described as a women in her 40s who entered the store with two men. The men distracted employees while the woman picked out the shoes, officers reported. The shoe store has been shoplifted numerous times.
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.