Stanwood man arrested after driving 192 mph on U.S. 2

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 5, 2020

SNOHOMISH — A Stanwood man was arrested Sunday morning after allegedly driving 192 mph on U.S. 2, more than 130 mph over the speed limit.

The man, 31, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol. He was in a silver 2008 Corvette.

His blood was drawn, but the test results may not be available for months because of a backup at the Washington State Patrol lab, Trooper Heather Axtman said.

After nearly 12 years on the job, she has never seen a car drive that fast.

“A motorcycle, that’s a speed we would see, but a car? That is so incredibly fast,” she said. “Not that it’s acceptable anywhere, but on Highway 2 you don’t have a whole lot of room for error, and at 192 miles per hour you have zero time for error.”

Just before 8 a.m. Sunday, a trooper was tracking car speeds with a radar device eastbound on U.S. 2 near Bickford Avenue. The trooper saw the Corvette speed past another car traveling at the 60 mph speed limit, Axtman said.

The trooper followed the suspect onto Highway 9, but lost sight of the car because it was going so fast. Soon after, the trooper found the man on a dead end road off of 96th Drive SE, just outside of Snohomish near King Charley’s Drive-In, Axtman said.

“The guy said he was on his way to go eat breakfast,” she said.

He allegedly said he had driven from Stanwood that morning, dozens of miles away from where he was arrested.

“Thankfully there was no innocent life hurt,” Axtman said. “It’s almost nothing shy of a miracle.”

The man was arrested and booked into the Snohomish County Jail.

Washington State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Darren Wright said it’s extremely rare to see these kinds of speeds.

“I believe we have had speeds of more than 200 miles per hour,” he said. “Not in this area, but in Eastern Washington.”

That’s about as fast as some of the quickest sports cars can go.

Wright asks drivers to obey speed limits even if the roads are clear, and to pay attention while behind the wheel.

“You may just be driving down the road and somebody is making poor choices,” he said. “You can be the victim of that.”

Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @stephrdavey.