LYNNWOOD — Bullets flew, a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy was bowled over by a stolen Jeep, and the vehicle crashed into a deep ditch, but nobody was seriously injured this afternoon in a police chase here.
The action started about 2:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Taco Bell restaurant in the 14800 block of Highway 99, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
A deputy spotted a Jeep Cherokee that had been reported stolen. He called for other deputies and they converged on the vehicle when the driver pulled up to the drive-up window at the fast-food restaurant.
Deputies moved in to make the arrest, but the Jeep driver instead attempted to flee, ramming one of the deputies. During the melee, two deputies shot at the vehicle, hitting it multiple times, Hover said.
The deputy received minor injuries after being struck by the vehicle, Hover said. Nobody apparently was hit by bullets.
Deputies chased the Jeep, which crashed into a deep ditch, several blocks to the west. The ditch, located in the 15200 block of 40th Avenue W., separates Autumn Grove Condominiums and a complex of rental apartments.
“I guess the driver must have thought this driveway was a road,” said Chris Brown, who lives at the condominiums.
Two men who were in the sport utility vehicle tried to climb a bare-limbed tree that grows out of the ditch, said Cliff Beverly, who was visiting relatives in the neighborhood.
Several police patrol cars were in pursuit of the vehicle when it crashed, said Shaleen Cook, who watched the incident unfold from the window of her mother’s home.
Cook said the officers had their weapons drawn and that three people — two men and one woman — were arrested almost immediately.
The woman and one of the men were taken to an area hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Hover said. The deputy also was taken to a hospital, but apparently did not suffer serious injuries, she said.
Police were gathering evidence this afternoon at the Taco Bell and at the ditch where the stolen Jeep came to rest.
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