Bystander neighbor disarms bat-wielding hit-and-run suspect, takes him to the ground
Everyone took matters into their own hands.
The victims of a hit-and-run Sunday in unincorporated Pierce County drove around, found the suspect vehicle and confronted the driver.
He allegedly raised a baseball bat and started chasing them.
The neighbor whose garage they ran to disarmed the suspect, took him to the ground and told him to calm down.
Charging papers give this account of what happened:
The 48-year-old driver blew a stop sign in his truck and hit another truck at 50th Avenue East and 72nd Street East, then fled.
A woman the victim driver was visiting nearby happened to see which way the suspect vehicle went. She was outside at the time “inspecting a dead cat,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
They drove around together and found the truck at a home near 72nd Street East and Canyon Road East.
They knocked on the door, and the victim driver told the woman who answered that the suspect needed to come out, or he’d call the police.
The suspect came to the door and asked them to come inside.
They said no.
That’s when the suspect opened the door of his truck and picked up the baseball bat.
He said: “Come here little (expletive)” and chased them with the bat raised, the probable cause statement said.
The victims saw an open garage door nearby and ran toward it.
The man inside saw them and stepped between the others.
It was when the suspect moved toward the bystander with the bat “in a swinging position” that he took it away, “took the defendant to the ground and told him to calm down,” the probable cause statement said.
The suspect returned to the other house, where sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested him.
He pleaded not guilty at arraignment Monday to hit-and-run and three counts of second-degree assault.
