Police beat: Fury over ice cream, a fleeing father and a defiant car prowler

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

May 26: On balance, you’re likely to get away with littering.

However, if you make a show of it in front of a pair of uniformed cops, the odds shift considerably, especially when you have active arrest warrants.

The 28-year-old Tacoma man wasn’t happy with the ice cream he ordered. He sat in the parking lot of the burger joint in the 7200 block of Pacific Avenue and tossed the cones to the pavement.

Two Tacoma officers in the same parking lot took notice and flagged down the man’s car, a silver 2001 Honda Civic.

The man in the passenger seat explained: The burger joint double-dipped his ice cream cones, and that wasn’t what he wanted, so he threw the entire order out the window.

Officers asked the man for identification. He handed it over.

A records check generated hits. The man had two active arrest warrants: one for theft, the other for escaping state community custody. Officers booked the man into the Pierce County Jail and impounded the car.

May 27: It wasn’t the best demonstration of fatherhood.

The Tacoma man, 33, was driving a white 2006 Lincoln Continental through the 6400 block of Tacoma Mall Boulevard when he spotted the patrol car and turned almost completely around to watch it pass.

The officer in the patrol car spotted the move, a small signal that something might be off. He took quick note of the license plate on the Lincoln and spotted something else: a sequence of letters and numbers that didn’t fit the vehicle type. The plate looked like it belonged to a truck or an SUV, not a sedan.

The observation led to an inference: a possible switched plate, and a stolen vehicle. The officer followed the Lincoln for 10 blocks, into a hardware store parking lot.

The driver wasn’t speeding, but his actions were evasive. The officer flicked on his emergency lights and flagged the car down.

Immediately, the driver stepped out. The officer drew his gun and told the man to show his hands. The man threw his keys and phone to the ground.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, backing away.

From the corner of his eye, the officer noticed a passenger in the car: a small boy.

“Are you going to leave your son?” the officer asked.

The man, still backing away, blurted the name of the boy’s mother and ran. The officer radioed for backup, and spoke to the boy in the car.

“Where did my dad go?” said the boy, 7.

The officer asked the boy for his father’s name. The boy gave it. He handed the abandoned phone to the boy and told him to call his mother. He did. She answered. The officer spoke to her. She said she was on her way.

Meanwhile, three officers called to the scene tracked down the running man, returned him to the scene and placed him in a patrol car. The officer booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of child abandonment and obstructing a police officer. The mother arrived and picked up the boy.

May 31: The car prowler didn’t bother with stealth.

A woman in the grocery store parking lot spotted him as he pulled on door handles. The man, 26, realized he was being watched. He walked toward the woman’s car, called her names and unzipped his pants. He walked toward another car and relieved himself on its door. The woman called 911.

When sheriff’s deputies reached the lot in the 9500 block of 176th Street East a few moments later, the man was on the losing side of a wrestling match. Two other men, including a store employee, had pinned him to the ground.

Deputies moved in and cuffed the man, who struggled and hurled threats at the deputies and their wives. Witnesses said the man had finally found a truck with an unlocked door and started rummaging through it.

That move led to the wrestling match with the witnesses. A deputy spoke to the owner of the truck, who said she had forgotten to lock it. She said nothing appeared to be missing.

Deputies booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of attempted robbery and indecent exposure.

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Police beat: Fury over ice cream, a fleeing father and a defiant car prowler."