Man arrested after 19-mile, high-speed police pursuit

EVERETT — All she wanted was her car back.

She’d entrusted a friend of a friend to fix the brakes on her 2008 Chrysler sedan, her lone mode of transportation to work and to take her daughter to appointments.

The man who was supposed to be making the repairs reportedly kept giving her excuses.

She grew worried.

She learned that he had a criminal record and told a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy that she’d seen photos of him in her car using drugs and drinking alcohol. She’d also heard from several people that the man had a history of taking vehicles, changing the titles and selling them.

Early Tuesday morning, a deputy spotted the car along Casino Road and followed it onto I-5, activating his emergency lights and siren south of 41st Street in Everett.

What ensued was a 14-minute, 19-mile pursuit over the U.S. 2 trestle, along Highway 9 through Lake Stevens and Granite Falls and onto the Mountain Loop Highway and then Quarry Road. Deputies estimated that the driver reached speeds of 105 mph and blasted through red lights and stop signs.

On Highway 92, police used spike strips. Deputies teamed up during the pursuit and were able to strategically bump the back of the car to force it to stop on Quarry Road.

When a deputy asked the 30-year-old suspect why he ran, he allegedly said he didn’t know if the woman had reported the car as stolen.

He also said he was scared, court records said.

He told a deputy he’d been in the process of returning the car to the woman when the pursuit began.

“It should be noted that if he was taking it back, he drove the opposite direction to where she lived,” the deputy wrote in a report.

The deputy also provided reasons why officers continued the pursuit. Chases often are called off for safety concerns.

He said he was in communication with a sergeant, traffic was light, the roads were dry and the driver was alone in the car. The suspect, a convicted felon, also had pending arrest warrants for a felony assault and misdemeanor driving with a suspended license. The woman told deputies that the suspect reportedly had been armed earlier in the day.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.

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