Fleeing suspect tells cops they ‘did a great job’ catching him
Published 1:30 am Friday, July 27, 2018
EVERETT — After Snohomish County deputies chased him for two miles through dark streets and woods, fired a stun gun into his back and tackled him in thorny bushes, an Oak Harbor man had a few choice words for his captors.
“You guys did a great job,” he said, according to police reports filed in court. “I’m serious.”
Two deputies in a patrol car had seen the man’s Dodge Caliber blow through one red light on Airport Road and another on East Gibson Road around 9:40 p.m. Tuesday. The Dodge swerved into oncoming lanes to pass stopped cars.
Deputies pursued the driver in a lasso-shaped route that crossed two apartment parking lots south of Everett. Twice they tried to use a maneuver to strike the side of the Dodge and bring it to a spinning stop. But the first time they had to back off to avoid hitting another car. The second time, the Dodge was going 10 mph, and managed to drive out of its tailspin.
They kept following the driver until he hit the brakes in a dead end at the HighGrove apartments on Admiralty Way. The driver got out and ran south into the woods, through thick sticker bushes and down a steep drop-off to Airport Road. One prong from a deputy’s stun gun hit the man’s back.
“It did not slow him down in the slightest,” the deputy wrote.
So he kept chasing. The deputy tackled the runner from behind and fought with him until backup arrived. The man, 25, was arrested for investigation of attempting to elude police, driving under the influence with a prior offense and a state Department of Corrections warrant.
A half-full, open bottle of Hennessy sat in the Dodge’s cup holder. The man reportedly said he didn’t know anything about the cognac, but admitted he’d taken what he thought was Xanax, and it made him feel weird and paranoid.
He slurred his words. A judge granted a warrant to draw his blood. Meanwhile, the man complimented the deputies on their efforts, according to the police reports.
“I would have stopped running,” he said, “if you guys would’ve stopped chasing.”
Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
