Suspect rams deputy’s car in Everett

Published 11:06 pm Monday, February 15, 2010

EVERETT — No one was injured Monday when a man fleeing police apparently rammed his car into a patrol car driven by a Snohomish County Sheriff’s deputy.

The crash occurred shortly after 2 p.m. on northbound Rucker Avenue just south of 41st Street. The 46-year-old Mill Creek man was arrested at the scene, said Rebecca Hover, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.

He could be charged with robbery, stemming from an incident earlier in the day, as well as vehicular assault and eluding police, Hover said.

The wreck caused minor damage to the deputy’s car, as the man swerved to the right and deliberately ran his red Toyota Tacoma pickup into the left-front quarter panel of the patrol car, Lt. Rodney Rochon of the Sheriff’s Office said at the scene. The deputy walked away from the accident, Rochon said.

Police cordoned off northbound Rucker Avenue at 42nd Street and detoured traffic for more than two hours while they investigated the wreck.

The man is believed to be the same one who was seen shoplifting around 9 a.m. by a clerk at a convenience store on Highway 99 near 128th Street SW, police said. The clerk confronted the man, who then physically fought with the clerk, automatically elevating the crime to a robbery, Rochon said.

The man fled. Police were called but did not immediately locate him.

Later in the day, a man was reported as possibly driving drunk while going through the drive-through at McDonald’s at 41st Street and Colby Avenue, Rochon said.

Everett police responded but didn’t find the driver. Shortly thereafter, Sheriff’s deputies spotted the suspect driving on Wall Street in downtown Everett, Rochon said.

He sped away southbound through Everett, followed by police, then turned around and headed northbound on Rucker Avenue.

Officers tried to stop him twice by bumping his truck from the side to spin it around but were unsuccessful, Rochon said. The wreck occurred soon after.

On Feb. 3, four officers were injured, including two deputies and two Everett officers, in two collisions in downtown Everett. The accidents occurred at Broadway and Hewitt Avenue in pursuit of a suspected car thief. Andrew Wayne Holden, 32, of Seattle, was arrested for investigation of eluding police, resisting arrest and multiple counts of possession of stolen vehicles.

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.