MONROE — Police and prosecutors are serious about keeping an east Snohomish County man under lock and key.
They allege Ilya Nikolayaeich Denisiuk, 29, used a stolen Jeep like a bulldozer last month, ramming past parked cars and speeding through quiet residential neighborhoods in a risky bid to avoid arrest.
Denisiuk ultimately was sniffed out by a police dog after bailing from the Jeep and trying to hide along the banks of the nearby Skykomish River, according to documents filed earlier this week in Snohomish County Superior Court.
At the time, he already had six felony convictions, 18 misdemeanors and was wanted on two active warrants, deputy prosecutor Michelle Rutherford said in court papers.
She convinced a judge to set $25,000 bail in the case, an amount high enough that it kept Denisiuk jailed last week in Everett.
The defendant’s current legal troubles began to unfold Oct. 16 in supermarket parking lot. A Monroe police officer spotted the Jeep as it pulled in and decided to check the license plate number. It came back stolen.
The Jeep’s driver pulled into a parking space, bordered on one side by a parked car and a shopping cart return cage on the other. Directly in front were other parked cars.
The officer pulled up behind the Jeep, blocking it in. He had just climbed out of his patrol vehicle and began moving in to make an arrest when the stolen vehicle lurched forward. It rammed into the parked cars ahead.
Officer Nathan Erdmann offered this description in police reports: “I could see the Jeep lurch up and down as it moved into the small gap between the two vehicles and push them to one side, and could hear a loud crunch as it first made contact, then scraping as it punched through.”
One of the parked vehicles was unoccupied. They other had four people inside, including three children.
Nobody appeared injured, so the officer gave chase.
The Jeep blasted through a red light at U.S. 2 and hit speeds of at least 50 mph along residential streets. Then it turned onto Ferry Street, which dead ends not far from the Skykomish River.
The officer expected anyone in the Jeep to bail, and that’s what happened. He first encountered a woman, who turned out to be a passenger. She was holding a small dog and complaining of an injured leg.
Police could hear crashing in the brush, likely from the Jeep’s driver. A police dog was brought in and reportedly followed a trail that led to the defendant, who was trying to hide at the river’s edge.
The man refused to identify himself. A check turned up Seattle warrants seeking Denisiuk’s arrest in drug and property cases.
Rutherford last week charged him with possession of a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude police. That charge could bring extra time because prosecutors allege the defendant threatened others with physical injury or harm.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@herald net.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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