By Katherine Schiffner
Herald Writer
MONROE — The driver of a stolen car died Thursday after reportedly leading police on a high-speed chase that ended when he crashed into a traffic light pole.
Witnesses reported that the car was going up to 90 mph when it slammed into a pole at the intersection of Main Street and U.S. 2, said Washington State Patrol trooper Lance Ramsay.
The man was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he died Thursday night from extensive injuries to his head, chest and legs.
The car the suspect was driving was reported stolen by the car owner’s boyfriend, Ramsay said. The man spotted the 1995 Saturn while driving through Sultan in another car with his mother, and called 911.
"He wanted to go ask the guy why he’s driving his car, and his mother said no, not to, they would follow them until the police got there," Ramsay said.
The man followed the car on U.S. 2 out of Sultan until it pulled over to the shoulder of the highway about halfway between Monroe and Sultan. The vehicle may have been having mechanical problems, Ramsay said.
The car owner’s boyfriend pulled in behind the car, but after a Sultan police officer arrived, the driver of the stolen Saturn sped off.
A Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy tried to stop the car by using a spike strip, which punctures a car’s tires. But when the deputy threw the spike strip out, "it deployed wrong and landed upside down with the spikes pointing toward the ground so it didn’t puncture the tires," Ramsay said.
The driver overcorrected in an attempt to avoid the spike strip, hit a Monroe Police Department patrol car, then slide sideways into the pole. The Monroe officer was not injured.
The crash, which occurred at around 11:50 a.m., blocked one lane of traffic on U.S. 2 for three hours.
You can call Herald Writer Katherine Schiffner at 425-339-3436 or send e-mail to schiffner@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
