Tacoma men thought cops wouldn’t chase them after Poulsbo bank heist. They were wrong

Two Tacoma men were pursued and arrested after robbing a Poulsbo bank, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The robbery took place late Tuesday afternoon, according to a news release from the office. After one of the men allegedly robbed the bank in the Poulsbo Walmart parking lot, he ran outside where the other man was waiting in a red pickup. As they drove away, the Poulsbo Police Department put out a call for the robbery with a description of the getaway vehicle. Five minutes later, a Kitsap deputy recognized the truck on state Route 3 and began to pursue it.

The deputy said the truck sped up and began to move erratically. Because a 2021 state law prohibits police from pursuing vehicles except in certain circumstances, the deputy radioed his supervisor to ask permission to follow the men.

As the state law allows law enforcement to pursue cars after violent felonies, the supervisor granted permission in a matter of seconds, and the deputy continued the chase, according to Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ken Dickinson. The pursuit ended at the Silverdale intersection of Newberry Hill Road and Provost Road when the pickup driver rear-ended another vehicle.

According to the news release, as the men were taken into custody, one told the deputy that he did not think law enforcement was allowed to pursue runaway cars. Dickinson told The News Tribune that since the 2021 law took effect, he and the department have seen a sizable increase in cars dangerously evading law enforcement vehicles, often accelerating and driving into oncoming traffic.

Charging documents show that both suspected robbers had been arrested earlier this year by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. One of the men was arrested in May for theft and in June for unlawful possession of a stolen car. The other was arrested three times in March for burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of a stolen car.

This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.