Man accused of breaking into 911 radio tower had to be airlifted out of WA woods, cops say
A man accused of breaking into a 911 radio tower had to be airlifted from a wooded area in Washington, deputies said.
Authorities responded at about 7:30 a.m. to the county tower north of Granite Falls, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office said in a Jan. 29 Facebook post.
When deputies got to the area, two suspects were fleeing in a vehicle, deputies said.
The two men then got out of their vehicle and fled by foot, deputies said.
Deputies said they chased after them with a police dog and arrested a 44-year-old man from Stanwood, but the second man wasn’t easy to find, deputies said.
Authorities had to get another police dog team and call in a helicopter to find him.
The second man, a 37-year-old from Marysville, was found and detained at about 10:45 a.m. in a wooded area with a cliffside, deputies said.
It was too difficult to move him because of the terrain, deputies said, so a helicopter was used to airlift him from the area.
Deputies said the tower was damaged during the burglary, causing “intermittent interruptions to emergency radio service in that area,” but calls to 911 were not affected.
Granite Falls is about a 45-mile drive northeast from Seattle.
