High-speed chase through Tacoma ends in crash, 3 vehicles in flames and snarled traffic
Interstate 5 in Tacoma was snarled in both directions Monday afternoon after police chased a carjacking suspect from Federal Way to South 56th Street. The car crashed, caught on fire and flames spread to two police vehicles.
Two suspects were taken into custody, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
As of 3:30 p.m., all lanes had been reopened, according to WSDOT.
The incident began around 11:25 a.m. when a caller to 911 reported that she had been carjacked inside Orangegate Park, near 84th Street E. and 46th Ave. E. The victim had an Air Tag tracking device hidden in her Toyota Corolla and kept the Sheriff’s Department updated with the car’s location.
When deputies attempted to stop the vehicle at a Federal Way shopping complex, it fled, hitting tire deflation barriers deputies had placed in its path. Deputies gave pursuit and the chase entered the southbound lanes of I-5.
During the chase, the car lost a tire and was driving on a rim, Washington State Patrol spokesperson Katherine Weatherwax said.
When the chase neared South 56th Street in Tacoma, a Pierce County Sheriff’s vehicle used a PIT maneuver to disable the car.
The car flipped and caught on fire when it crashed, Weatherwax said. The male driver fled on foot but was soon captured. Deputies were able to pull the female passenger from the car before it was fully engulfed in flames.
Both were taken into custody and then transported to a local hospital for evaluation. The Sheriff’s Department said no personnel were injured in the incident.
The fire ignited dry grass. Flames soon spread to two Sheriff’s Department vehicles. Deputies used a fire extinguisher to knock down flames in one police vehicle but had to wait for fire department personnel to arrive to put out the fires in the other police vehicle and the stolen car.
Deputies recovered a firearm in the burned grass near the suspect’s vehicle. It had one empty casing in it but, according to Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss, no gunfire occurred during the carjacking or chase. However, ammunition inside the stolen vehicle did explode during the fire, he said.
This story was originally published June 12, 2023 at 1:42 PM.
