Yelm police arrest man after high speed chase Monday morning
Yelm police arrested a man accused of stealing a car after a high-speed chase into Pierce County early Monday morning.
The pursuit began on the west end of Yelm around 12:58 a.m. and ended on State Route 507 near Roy about 40 minutes later, said Yelm Police Chief Todd Stancil. Though the driver reportedly threatened to harm himself before his arrest, Stancil said no one was hurt and the driver was safely taken into custody.
“I just commend the officers for handling it the way they did,” Stancil said. “Everybody went home safely, including the suspect. So it all worked out the right way. They did a good job, doing the best they could with what they had.”
At first, a Yelm officer attempted to stop the car because its back license plate was unreadable, Stancil said. However, the car took off at speeds up to 70 miles per hour, he said.
At one point, the car reached a dead end and the driver allegedly attempted to ram the pursuing officer’s vehicle to escape, Stancil said.
“(The patrol car) was able to get out of the way,” Stancil said. “Another Yelm unit joined in the pursuit. They came back through Yelm at speeds in the 60 to 70 range. Nothing too crazy — obviously traffic was very light at that time of night.”
The fleeing car began to have engine problems after it entered Pierce County, Stancil said. As the car drove at about 20 miles per hour, a patrol car made contact with the car in a PIT maneuver that caused the car to spin out, he said.
Once the pursuit ended, police attempted to take the driver into custody but he allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened to harm himself, Stancil said.
At that point, law enforcement from the Yelm Police Department, Thurston County Sheriff’s Office and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office were all on scene, he said. They negotiated with the man for about 30 minutes before attempting a different solution.
Stancil said Thurston County deputies fired a bean bag shotgun at one of the back windows of the car. Once the window was broken, they introduced an unspecified chemical agent into the car, he said.
“At that point, the suspect came out with his hands up and had dropped the knife,” Stancil said. “We were able to put him into custody without injury.”
Police did not find any weapons or drugs in the car, Stancil said. However, they did learn the car was stolen in Tacoma where Pierce County deputies had pursued it earlier in the evening, he said.
Stancil said he didn’t know why the man allegedly decided to lead police on a pursuit. He said he found it odd that the man did so after already escaping a previous pursuit.
“If you got away in one pursuit, chances are you’re going home after that,” Stancil said. “You’re not going to stay out trying to get into a few more. So, this particular individual seemed like he didn’t do anything to avoid additional trouble after previous pursuits.”
The man was booked into Thurston County jail on suspicion of eluding police and possessing a stolen vehicle.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 12:06 PM.
