Police Beat: Self-defense with a cane, a car full of evidence and a driver with a weak story
Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
Nov. 19: The Tacoma police officers faced a choice. They could believe the 78-year-old man in the wheelchair, or the 53-year-old man who claimed to be his victim.
It wasn’t much of a dilemma. The initial dispatch call reported a domestic disturbance. Officers drove to a senior-designated apartment complex in the 2300 block of Sixth Avenue.
They found the 53-year-old standing outside. He said the older man ran over his foot with the wheelchair and assaulted him with a cane after an argument near the elevator.
A second officer spoke to the older man, who said the 53-year-old picked fights and created constant problems for him and for other tenants. The older man had sought and obtained a no-contact order against the 53-year-old, he said.
The older man said the latest incident started in the elevator. He tried to leave, but the 53-year-old blocked his path and barked a threat of some sort.
The man said he couldn’t remember the exact words, but he said he hit the 53-year-old with his cane in “self-defense.”
The first officer asked the younger man about the argument.
“I yell at that (expletive) every time I see him,” the man said.
Yes, he knew about the no-contact order, he added. He planned to fight it in court.
Officers checked records and found the no-contact order. They told the 53-year-old he was under arrest. The man responded with curses.
On the way to the Pierce County Jail, the man ranted in the patrol car and spat out his false teeth. He told officers to give them back. They handed the teeth to staff at the jail, where the man was booked on suspicion of violating the order.
Nov. 19: Pop quiz — your driver’s license is suspended, you got out of jail a year ago and the cops have you listed as a known gang member. What do you do?
Option A. Don’t drive, and if you have to travel, be a passenger.
Option B. Get behind the wheel of a car you don’t own, pick up a passenger with an active arrest warrant and drive around with a baggie of meth, a scale and a gun.
The Pierce County man chose option B. A sheriff’s deputy on routine patrol spotted him driving a 2007 Mazda 6 in the 12800 block of Pacific Avenue South.
A smoky plastic shield covered the license plate. That was a flag for the deputy, who knew drivers use such plates to evade tolls. He swung behind the car, pulled it over and asked the driver for his license, registration and proof of insurance.
The deputy noticed a passenger in the front seat and a young woman seemingly asleep in back.
The driver, 22, handed over his license. The deputy ran a records check. It showed a suspension. The deputy asked the man to step out of the car and cuffed him.
Did he know his license was suspended?
The man said he didn’t.
Was he carrying anything illegal?
The man said he wasn’t sure.
Who was the passenger?
The driver got edgy. He said he knew the man as Jack.
The deputy spoke to the passenger, 31, who gave a name and birth date that didn’t match known records. Soon, he was cuffed. He gave a new name linked to four arrest warrants. He said he lied about his name at first because he knew about them.
Was there anything illegal in the car?
The man said he wasn’t sure.
The woman who had been sleeping in back gave her name. Records listed her as 24, but she didn’t have a driver’s license. She said a purse in the car belonged to her.
Searching the car, the deputy, now accompanied by a colleague, found a baggie with 1.75 grams of methamphetamine inside, a small scale, a used glass pipe, a set of shaved keys and a 9mm handgun in the purse.
The deputy asked who owned the gun, which turned out to be stolen. No one claimed it, nor did anyone claim the drugs and the paraphernalia.
The deputy told the trio they were under arrest. He noticed the woman mouthing a two-word curse at the driver. The two men and the woman were booked into the Pierce County Jail.
Nov. 17: The man claimed he was speeding because his wife was in labor. The Tacoma officers weren’t buying it.
They were parked at the 8400 block of Pacific Avenue when the 1998 Lincoln Town Car whizzed by.
The officers gave chase. They had trouble keeping up. The Lincoln was hitting 80 miles per hour. The limit was 35. Soon, they pulled the car over and found two men inside.
The driver, 34, said he was speeding because his wife was in labor at Swedish Medical Center.
One officer noted that the Seattle hospital was in the opposite direction. Did the driver know the way to the hospital?
The man said he didn’t. The story crumbled quickly.
The driver’s license was suspended. He had an active arrest warrant tied to prior drunken-driving incident. He wasn’t supposed to drive without an ignition interlock device. The Lincoln didn’t have one.
The driver said he didn’t know about the license suspension. He said the Lincoln wasn’t his car.
The passenger, 33, had a separate arrest warrant out of Lakewood.
Officers booked the driver into the Pierce County Jail on his warrant and suspicion of driving with a suspended license. They handed off the passenger to Lakewood police.
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