Man accused of deflating police car tires and posting video of it has been charged
A man accused of letting the air out of tires on a police car in Tacoma and posting video of it on Instagram has been charged with first-degree malicious mischief.
The 23-year-old pleaded not guilty at arraignment Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance.
Charging papers made these allegations about what happened:
An officer parked the patrol vehicle Feb. 5 in the 4500 block of Pacific Avenue. Then police learned an Instagram post showed the suspect using a tool to let air out of the tires and saying “(expletive)(racial slur) you can’t park here!”
After the officer returned, it took an hour to get the tires checked and reinflated.
“Police inspected the Instagram account and were able to identify a vehicle pictured on the account that is registered to the defendant,” the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
When investigators spoke with the suspect, he allegedly told them “he wanted to post a funny video,” online, the probable cause statement said. “The defendant stated he received ‘hate from people’ so he took down the video. “
