By Katherine Schiffner
Herald Writer
LYNNWOOD — Two young children were rescued by police after a man stole the car they were in and led officers on a short chase Wednesday night.
The children, 2 years old and 11 months old, were safely returned to their mother.
The Lynnwood woman momentarily left the children alone in an unlocked car outside a Lynnwood apartment in the 4800 block of 168th Street SW with the keys in the car’s ignition.
While she was inside a nearby apartment, a man took her 1987 Buick and her children around 10 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
The man apparently realized the children were in the car and was headed back to the apartment complex when the mother spotted the car and pointed it out to police, said Lynnwood Police Department Commander Paul Watkins.
But the driver didn’t stop, police said. He sped up and turned onto 168th Street SW, with a Lynnwood officer following him.
Police said the car ran a red light at Highway 99, then swerved across the sidewalk and onto a grass hill near 44th Avenue W.
After the car came down off the grass hill, police forced it off the road in the 16600 block of 44th Avenue W., Watkins said. The car was not traveling excessively fast, he said.
The driver, a Snohomish County resident, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree theft, attempt to elude pursing police vehicles and two counts of unlawful imprisonment, police said. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
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.
