Police beat: Tough talk, an incredulous driver, and a fugitive with red shoes

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

May 19: Asked to explain himself, the 14-year-old deployed a big-man voice to describe his noble restraint.

The Tacoma officer assigned to Lincoln High School listened. The assistant principal had called him to report a fight between two students earlier in the day. The 14-year-old, an ROTC student, was giving his side of the story, which involved a pen.

The boy had seen the pen on a table, and grabbed it to sign a form. He hadn’t realized it belonged to another student, a female who told him to give it back. The 14-year-old didn’t give it back right away, so the girl got mad and yelled at him.

Later, the girl’s boyfriend had seen the 14-year-old and confronted him. The 14-year-old said he tried to walk away, and the other boy tackled him from behind. School staffers broke up the fight, he said.

“It’s a good thing there were staff and students between us to keep me from seriously injuring him,” the 14-year-old said, in a lofty tone the officer described as, “the most macho voice (the boy) could muster.”

The officer spoke to the other boy, 16. He said his girlfriend had been disrespected. The 14-year-old had taken her pen, cussed her out when she asked for it back and threatened to slap her.

The older boy said he confronted the 14-year-old later in the hall and told him not to talk to his girlfriend that way. The 14-year-old started cussing again, threatened to fight, then walked away.

The older boy admitted tackling his foe. The officer took him to Remann Hall, where he was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.

May 20: The weaving driver couldn’t understand why officers were wasting their time with him.

He drove a silver 2001 Honda Civic through the 5000 block of East Portland Avenue. One officer followed in a patrol car, lights flashing, issuing amplified commands to pull over.

Stopped, the driver, 36, eyed an officer and smiled.

He stepped out when asked, though he had to lean on the trunk to keep his balance. He laughed and apologized for speeding. He said he was trying to take his friend home. He said he’d had one drink earlier: a Corona.

At first he was willing to try a field sobriety test. He changed his mind and said he wouldn’t. He refused the breath test, too. His friend walked off on his own, not waiting for a ride.

In the patrol car, the man started asking questions.

“Why aren’t you arresting the real criminals?” he said. “I’m not a criminal.”

He added that his father was a police officer — a captain. The officer booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of drunken driving.

May 23: Pop quiz — you have a pair of active arrest warrants, one from the state Department of Corrections. What do you do?

A. Lay low, and don’t attract attention.

B. Go to a bar, pick a fight and wave a gun.

The 45-year-old man chose option B. Sheriff’s deputies drove to the bar in the 9800 block of 224th Street East in Graham. Patrons said the man had fled into a wooded area nearby. They described him: big man with a beard, black jacket, dark pants, red Converse shoes.

As deputies interviewed witnesses, a man stepped out of the woods, cut through an alley and strolled through a parking lot. He matched the description, down to the red shoes.

The deputies, in full uniform, called out to the man and told him to stop.

“Why?” the man yelled, and kept walking.

One deputy drew a gun, told the man to get on the ground, and said he was under arrest.

“No, I’m not,” the man said, but he got down.

Deputies closed in and cuffed him. They asked for his identification. The man said the deputies were harassing him. After a frisk, they found his ID, ran a records check and spotted the arrest warrants.

Deputies booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on the warrants and suspicion of obstructing a law enforcement officer.

This story was originally published May 27, 2017 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Police beat: Tough talk, an incredulous driver, and a fugitive with red shoes."