EVERETT — Bail has been set at $100,000 for a Sunnyside man accused of leading police on a high-speed chase on I-5 from Everett to Edmonds on Tuesday with a homicide suspect as a passenger.
Court papers released Wednesday provided more details about the southbound pursuit that reached speeds of 100 mph.
The suspected driver, 39, was arrested for investigation of attempting to elude police, a felony, as well as a gross misdemeanor for a hit and run that caused property damage to another vehicle.
In the past, he had been convicted of eluding police as a juvenile, six felonies as an adult and 18 misdemeanors, including resisting arrest, assault and hit and run, a deputy prosecutor said in court.
A witness identified him as the driver, although the Sunnyside man denied he was involved in the crash. He said he was stopping at a Starbucks off Highway 99 in Edmonds, near where he was arrested. It was not far from the spot where the Acura in the pursuit was abandoned.
Police also arrested Hector Salvador Garcia-Ceja, 24, who was reported to be a passenger in the car. He appeared in Yakima County Superior Court on Wednesday and was being held on $1 million bail.
Garcia-Ceja was one of three men charged with first-degree murder in a slaying earlier this month in the Yakima Valley.
Joe Albert Fuller, 44, was found shot to death in his car April 12, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Authorities allege Garcia-Ceja; Jaime Herrera, 24; and Marcos Cruz Herrera, 46, chased down Fuller and shot him after his car went into a canal. Yakima County sheriff’s detectives say evidence suggests Fuller was killed in connection with a drug deal, the Herald-Republic reported. The Herreras, father and son, remain at large.
Hector Garcia-Ceja (left) with defense attorney Andres Munoz in Yakima County Superior Court on Wednesday. Garcia-Ceja is charged with first-degree murder in the April 12 death of Joe Albert Fuller near Granger. (Donald W. Meyers, Yakima Herald-Republic)
The Everett Police Department gang unit had been monitoring a sedan Tuesday afternoon before the pursuit began.
Around 4:20 p.m., the driver noticed three marked police SUVs staged in a parking at the intersection of 7th Avenue SE and SE Everett Mall Way, according to court papers.
At that point, the Acura went into the left turn lane and made a right-hand turn in front of two stopped vehicles at a red light. From there it headed east on Everett Mall Way.
Police were led through side streets and into oncoming traffic numerous times before the car reached southbound I-5. The Acura was driven on the shoulder for much of the way, hitting speeds over 100 mph.
It exited at 220th Street SW, heading west through Mountlake Terrace and into Edmonds. The Acura collided with another car at the intersection of 220th and Highway 99.
A short time later, the suspects were arrested.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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