Suspected package thief found unconscious in swamp after leading deputies on pursuit

A 32-year-old man suspected of stealing packages led deputies on a high-speed pursuit and foot chase before a tracking dog found him face down in a swamp suffering from hypothermia, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

It started about 1:30 a.m. Dec. 20 when a deputy noticed a Ford F150 speeding and fishtailing around a curve in Bonney Lake. The deputy tried to pull the truck over, but the driver sped off, crossing the center line multiple times as he drove onto state Route 162.

Deputies were able to run his license plate and discovered the man was wanted for fraud in connection to stolen packages in Sumner and Bonney Lake.

The pursuit went into South Hill and then Orting, with the driver occasionally trying to lose deputies by slamming on the brakes or making an abrupt turn.

After swerving into one of the patrol cars, the truck stopped, and the driver fled on 150th Avenue East.

One of the deputies pursuing him attempted to use a Taser, but it was ineffective.

They lost sight of the suspect after he hopped a guardrail, slid down a steep embankment and disappeared into the darkness.

Deputies set up containment in the neighborhood and called in a K-9 after seeing a handgun sitting on the truck’s seat. Also allegedly found in the truck were burglary tools and methamphetamine.

The Ford F150 still had police tape on the doors from when deputies served a search warrant on it five days earlier for the fraud investigation.

Zepp, the K-9, picked up the suspect’s track at the guardrail and followed it to a wooded area, where troopers found the suspect’s hat.

The track then led to a swamp choked with heavy vegetation that forced deputies and the K-9 to crawl under tree limbs, over downed logs and through the bushes.

In some spots, the mud and water reached deputies’ gun belts, and Zepp had to swim.

The K-9 was so excited when he again caught the suspect’s track that he pulled his handler face first into the mud.

Deputies found one of the suspect’s shoes stuck in the mud but began to lose hope after 40 minutes of tracking.

The pursuers dwindled from six law enforcement officers and the K-9 to just Zepp and his handler.

Zepp eventually took off running, and, when his handler caught up, he found the suspect facedown in two feet of water and the dog pulling on the his arm.

The suspect was unconscious and suffering from hypothermia.

Two deputies were able to build a rescue bridge with a ladder and pallets to move the suspect over the swamp and onto a nearby farm where paramedics were waiting.

“As if being soaking wet and covered in mud was not challenging enough for our deputies, multiple patrol cars and the ambulance also got stuck in the muddy farm field and had to be pulled out,” according to the department.

The suspect was treated at a local hospital and was booked into Pierce County Jail.

Prosecutors have charged him with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, resisting arrest, mail theft, two counts of second-degree identity theft, third-degree possession of stolen property and damaging an attended vehicle.

He pleaded not guilty and posted $75,000 bail.

This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 10:35 AM.