Police chase near Lynnwood went 109 mph, wrong way on I-5

Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 11, 2019

LYNNWOOD — Court papers provide new details on the harrowing wrong-way chase on I-5 in south Snohomish County earlier this week.

Suspected of driving under the influence early Tuesday morning, an Edmonds man allegedly drove more than 100 mph, went the wrong way on the freeway, then broke into two homes as he tried to get away from law enforcement.

In the end, a police dog got him.

The suspect, 25, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of eluding police, possessing a stolen vehicle, driving under the influence and two counts of residential burglary.

He also had four felony warrants related to stolen vehicles. He remained in jail Friday with bail set to $150,000.

A sheriff’s deputy spotted the man around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, when he was driving 15 mph under the speed limit with his headlights off.

He may have been drunk, the deputy wrote in a report.

The deputy turned on his emergency lights to pull over the driver on Highway 525, near Lincoln Way. The man didn’t stop.

So, the deputy turned on his siren.

“The driver acted like he did not see me or notice I was even there,” the deputy wrote.

Suddenly the car sped away, cutting across the entire roadway.

Speeds increased to about 100 mph, and the suspect used “all lanes at his pleasure without any due care,” the deputy wrote.

The deputy noted in a report that there was “no reason to swerve violently across the lanes.” The highway was relatively straight, had no sharp curves and there were no obstructions.

There was no traffic, either.

Reportedly reaching speeds up to 109 mph, the chase wound through Alderwood Mall Parkway and onto southbound I-5.

The suspect took the exit for the Lynnwood Park & Ride and slipped into northbound I-5, going the wrong way, according to court papers.

The deputy called off the pursuit and drove down southbound I-5 to make sure the suspect didn’t crash into anybody.

A few minutes later, another deputy spotted the driver on 238th Street SW and knocked the car off the road using a PIT maneuver, a technique in which an officer bumps a corner of a patrol car into a corner of a fleeing vehicle, to make the vehicle lose control.

The suspect got out of his car and ran through some woods.

The two deputies called for backup and followed. As they climbed out of a ravine, they could hear a crashing noise and a woman scream, “Help!”

The man had broken into someone’s home, then ran through and forced his way into a neighboring house.

By the time the two deputies caught up with the man, he was surrounded by law enforcement. A police dog had bitten his arm and he was refusing to get on the ground.

The deputy who began the chase arrested the suspect.

Deputies applied for a search warrant to obtain and test a blood sample.

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.