LYNNWOOD — Police said an intoxicated 15-year-old Seattle girl led them on a wild vehicle chase early Thursday that ended in Lynnwood.
The girl reportedly was so agitated she had to be strapped to a gurney and fitted with a mask to prevent her from spitting.
“She was an extremely serious threat to the motoring public and it was a good thing she was apprehended,” said Washington State Patrol trooper Jeff Merrill. “It is unusual that you would find a young person, a 15-year-old female, that exhibits such a tendency toward violence.”
Just after midnight, a trooper on I-5 near NE 50th Street in Seattle tried to stop the girl after she was spotted driving a stolen 1989 Toyota Camry.
When troopers turned on the their flashing lights, the girl sped off before exiting onto Lake City Way. She crashed the car there at the top of the offramp, Merrill said.
Before troopers could arrest her, the girl backed her car into the trooper’s patrol car and then drove the wrong way into oncoming traffic on I-5 north. She did a U-turn and sped north 13 miles before exiting at 164th Street SW in Lynnwood. She crashed at the top of that exit ramp, too, Merrill said.
“She needs to work on that whole getting off the freeway thing. It’s just not working for her,” he said.
The girl was extremely intoxicated, shouting profanities and threatening police, Merrill said.
She kicked out windows in two patrol cars before troopers had her strapped to a medic’s gurney and fitted with a mask to prevent her from spitting, he said.
She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she allegedly punched a doctor and bit a hospital staff person hard enough to draw blood, Merrill said.
The girl was jailed in King County for investigation of drunken and reckless driving, eluding police, resisting arrest, two counts of malicious mischief, assault and driving without a license.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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