Driver arrested after livestreaming her high-speed pursuit on I-5, sheriff says
Thurston County deputies arrested a 25-year-old woman Wednesday night after she allegedly livestreamed her high-speed pursuit down Interstate 5.
The pursuit started around 9:15 p.m. in the 800 block of Tumwater Boulevard Southwest, according to county dispatch, and ended near the border of Thurston and Lewis counties. Sheriff Derek Sanders shared his account of the pursuit on Facebook along with dash camera footage from a pursuing patrol vehicle.
Sanders said he first spotted the vehicle in question while standing in the parking lot of the Sheriff’s Office station with staff.
An occupant of the vehicle “screamed at the top of their lungs in a manner that sounded as they were distressed,” Sanders said in his post. It was unclear if the scream came from a driver or passenger at the time, he added.
Sanders alleged the driver ran a stop sign, accelerated rapidly, nearly T-boned another car, ran a second stop sign, took a turn too wide and nearly caused a head-on collision with another vehicle.
“When we attempted to pull the driver over, they got on I-5 and fled at speeds of 100 miles per hour,” Sanders said. “The driver had a hard time staying within their lane at times.”
As the pursuit neared Grand Mound, a south county deputy successfully spiked the vehicle’s tires and the driver eventually pulled over near milepost 87, according to Sanders and the video.
The driver surrendered and deputies confirmed there were no other occupants in the vehicle, Sanders said.
As they cleared the car, deputies noticed the driver had live-streamed the pursuit on social media. Deputies recorded the live stream and logged it as evidence, he added.
Once in custody, the driver allegedly admitted to consuming cannabis earlier and “showed signs of impairment,” Sanders said. At one point, she slipped out of her handcuffs, so deputies put her into a wrap-around restraint system, he said.
Deputies ultimately booked her into the county jail on suspicion of eluding a police vehicle and driving under the influence, according to the jail log.
“Deputies did a great job communicating during the incident and utilizing sound tactics at the conclusion to ensure a safe arrest could take place,” Sanders said in his post. “We were able to get the freeway back open within just a few minutes.”
