Driver fleeing police reached 105 mph with 3-year-old in truck

Published 8:30 am Wednesday, May 6, 2020

STANWOOD — A 3-year-old girl was unharmed and safe with family after being a passenger in a high-speed chase Tuesday night that spanned from Bellevue to Skagit County.

A Washington State Patrol trooper tried to stop an allegedly speeding driver in a 2013 Ford F-150 at 6:25 p.m. on I-405 in Bellevue. The driver, a 31-year-old Stanwood man and the child’s father, reportedly pulled over briefly, then sped off north toward I-5, Trooper Heather Axtman said.

Officers pursued because they learned there was a child inside and that the truck’s registered owner had protection orders against two young children, Axtman said. They later learned the court-ordered protection was for two other children.

“Yes, the pursuit is causing danger, but there’s an absolute reason the courts decided the person can’t have the child,” Axtman said.

On the freeway in Marysville, troopers attempted to stop the truck with spike strips, but the man swerved around them. His top speed in the chase hit 105 mph, Axtman said.

Near the 88th Street Northeast exit from I-5 in Marysville, the driver swerved and clipped a flatbed trailer but maintained control and kept driving.

Eventually, he left I-5 and was stopped on Starbird Road when officers used a pursuit intervention technique to get the truck to spin out, which disabled the engine, Axtman said.

“No one got hurt,” she said. “The pursuit really did go off without a hitch.”

Officers found the girl buckled in the front seat without a child car seat.

“She was so scared,” Axtman said.

The driver was arrested and booked into Snohomish County Jail for investigation of attempting to elude, hit and run, reckless driving and reckless endangerment.