Puyallup man pleads not guilty to assaulting girlfriend, leading police on pursuit

A Puyallup man assaulted his girlfriend and then led officers on a pursuit before rolling his SUV, police said.

Alexander Medsker, 25, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to vehicular assault, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, fourth-degree assault, hit and run property and third-degree driving on a suspended license.

He was ordered jailed in lieu of $50,000.

Police were called about 1:30 p.m. Sunday to a home in the 700 block of 18th Street Southwest for a couple who was yelling and punching each other in the street.

When the time two officers arrived, Medsker and his girlfriend were getting inside an SUV.

Medsker drove at one of the officers and then swerved, driving onto the curb and destroying a neighbor’s mailbox before speeding away, according to charging papers.

The second officer followed him and the pursuit reached 55 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone. When Medsker spotted an officer trying to set up a maneuver to stop Medsker’s vehicle, he allegedly drove straight at him.

Eventually police were able to spin out the SUV, which rolled before landing on its wheels. Medsker’s girlfriend fractured three vertebra in the crash.

She told detectives they’d argued about Medsker’s heroin use and she’d begged him to stop the car once police arrived.

“She said she told the defendant to stop when the police were chasing them and undid her seat belt to jump from the moving vehicle just before it tipped over,” records show.

The girlfriend was not charged with a crime.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Puyallup man pleads not guilty to assaulting girlfriend, leading police on pursuit."