Police beat: A high-speed chase, stolen pills and a knee to the groin
Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Puyallup police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Sept. 20: Once you commit to stealing a U-Haul truck and leading police on a 20-mile high-speed chase, chances are you won’t get a chance to hook up with your estranged girlfriend.
When the Puyallup officer spotted the box truck in the 4300 block of South Meridian, two thoughts came to mind. For one thing, the truck was swerving between lanes. Second, it was 1:45 a.m., an odd time to be moving.
As the truck approached the exit ramp to eastbound state Route 512, the officer flicked on his emergency lights.
The truck didn’t stop. The officer turned on the siren. The truck didn’t stop. Instead, the driver floored it, hitting 85 mph as the officer trailed.
A second officer joined the pursuit. The truck roared down 512, hitting 90 mph as it veered toward northbound state Route 167. From there, the driver slipped onto the West Valley Highway exit, moving through light traffic and sliding back onto 167.
The driver tried the same move at an exit a few miles farther north, in a pattern familiar to officers. It didn’t work. The chase continued as the truck and the officers reached the southern boundary of Kent. Again, the driver tried to pull off at an exit, but a King County Sheriff’s patrol car blocked the escape route.
The truck veered back to Route 167, and slowed a bit near the exit to South 212th Street. The reduced pace allowed the Puyallup officers to pull off a PIT maneuver, forcing the truck to turn sideways. The truck spun, and the second officer pulled in front, halting the driver’s progress.
The driver, a 21-year-old Spanaway man, stepped out. Officers cuffed him immediately, and checked the truck’s ignition. It was running without a key. A nearby screwdriver told a tale of theft.
The driver gave his name, and admitted he’d been arrested a week earlier for stealing another U-Haul truck. He knew this one was stolen too, he said. He was on his way to visit his girlfriend when the officer spotted him.
The man said he kept driving because he was trying to reach his girlfriend on the phone, and wanted to talk to her before he was arrested.
Officers booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of possessing a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude police pursuit. The following day, the man’s girlfriend filed a domestic violence petition, alleging years of physical violence, adding that the man had threatened to kill her and anyone he found with her.
Sept. 18: The caller said his girlfriend hit him in the face with a crowbar, adding that she also had two knives and a hammer.
A pair of sheriff’s deputies drove to the 1100 block of North Herron Road Kp North in Lakebay. They found a man, 41, and woman, 32, standing in front of the house. One officer cuffed the woman while the other spoke to the man.
The man explained that he was house-sitting for his parents. He and his girlfriend had been fighting off and on for a week. One fight in the car led to a traffic stop, and the woman had been taken into custody for a mental-health evaluation. The couple had been battling ever since, the man said.
The man said he woke from a nap earlier in the day and discovered his girlfriend had broken into a bedroom and stolen a bottle of Oxycodone. She had overdosed before, and he wanted to stop it from happening again.
He told her to give the pills back. She ran to the bedroom. He followed and tried to stop her from locking herself in, he said.
She hit him on the arm with the crowbar. He took it from her. She picked up a hammer. He took it. She had knives in her pockets. The man called 911 at that point, he said.
The deputy spoke to the woman. She said her boyfriend hadn’t slept in days, and was acting strange. She said she didn’t hit him with anything. She said he knocked her down and threatened her.
Deputies booked the woman into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.
Sept. 16: The first call sought help for a possible drug overdose. The second came from firefighters who said the patient was fighting and trying to retrieve a gun.
Sheriff’s deputies drove to the 6800 block of 176th Street East in Frederickson, and found four firefighters from Central Pierce Fire and Rescue struggling with a woman.
The woman, 43, looked and sounded drunk. She was screaming and slurring her words. The deputy cuffed her and stowed her in a patrol car.
The firefighters said they found the woman prone on the floor of the bar. As they approached, she acted as though she was having a seizure, then rose and started swinging at them.
The firefighters took the woman outside. She said she had a gun in her car. She said she wanted to open the car door and get a cigarette. They stopped her and called police.
At that point, the woman aimed a knee at one of the firefighters and caught him flush in the groin. The other firefighters wrestled the woman to the ground, kicking and swinging.
Two tavern workers said the woman caused trouble when she came in earlier. She had shown off the gun. One worker persuaded her to let him stow it in his car. She had been kicked out for bringing in her own bottle of liquor, but she came back in, started banging her head against the bar, and passed out.
A deputy checked the tavern worker’s car, found the gun and placed it into evidence.
On the way to the Pierce County Jail, the woman said she would escape from her restraints. She wanted to know why she was arrested. It wasn’t her fault, she said — the firefighters were in her way, and she didn’t want them touching her. Men had abused her before, she said.
At the jail, she told the deputy she would fight him unless he let her smoke a cigarette. The deputy ignored her. The woman fought with jail staff when they took charge of her. She was booked on suspicion of third-degree assault.
This story was originally published September 23, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Police beat: A high-speed chase, stolen pills and a knee to the groin."