CLEARVIEW — A trooper shot and wounded a man Sunday morning at the end of a high-speed pursuit that led officers through Everett, Smokey Point, Lake Stevens and Snohomish, police said.
The man, whose identity was not immediately available, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with at least one gunshot wound to the shoulder, said Trooper Mark Francis of the Washington State Patrol. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office said the man is in his early 50s.
The chase began on northbound I-5, near 128th Street SE, around 6:30 a.m., when a trooper saw a Ford pickup traveling more than 100 mph, Francis said. At one point, troopers discontinued the freeway pursuit for safety reasons, but set up spike strips farther north, near the 88th Street NE exit in Marysville.
The pickup exited at Smokey Point with at least one flat tire, and headed east, Francis said. Troopers stopped the pursuit again, but resumed on southbound Highway 9, where they clocked the pickup going 93 mph.
The chase continued south past Lake Stevens and Snohomish down to 164th Street SE in Clearview, where the pickup driver turned left and pulled into a gas station parking lot. Three troopers followed him into the lot, with three other officers close behind.
One of the troopers fired when the driver appeared to accelerate toward the law officers, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
“It appears as though he was attempting to use the vehicle to possibly injure the trooper,” Ireton said.
The trooper was outside his vehicle when he fired. He has been on the force since the spring of 2010, she said.
The suspect was taken into custody shortly after 7 a.m.
No troopers or officers were injured.
As is standard in police-involved shootings, the Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, or SMART, is investigating.
Detectives remained at the scene into the late afternoon. They focused their attention on a blue, late-model pickup with a bullet hole in the windshield and a heavily damaged right-front tire.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465;, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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