EVERETT — In the end, the man wasn’t much of a getaway driver. He tried, though, using a pickup, a motorcycle and a child’s bicycle snatched from under the boy’s nose.
The hurly-burly started about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at an abandoned home near McCollum Park. It ended in a new housing development, still under construction, in the Silver Lake area. Police caught the man and his girlfriend, and recovered four stolen Ford pickups.
Now investigators with the Snohomish County Auto Theft Task Force are connecting leads from this case to other crimes.
“It took us on new investigations that we’re going to continue to pursue to recover victims’ property,” Det. Terry Haldeman said Wednesday morning.
Sheriff’s deputies had stopped by the abandoned house, known as “a drug house and a flophouse,” and found two stolen heavy-duty Ford pickups, Haldeman said. While they were checking it out, two Ford F-350s pulled into the driveway.
Both drivers spotted the police and put the trucks in reverse, Haldeman said. The woman was stopped and arrested.
The boyfriend sped away onto I-5, heading north. He tried to lose the cops by exiting into the park-and-ride lot near 112th Street SE. He then doubled back, headed toward 116th Street SE.
“He drove into the back yard of two brand-new, unoccupied houses, and drove down a very steep ravine and crashed,” Haldeman said.
The truck was about 60 feet down the ravine, Haldeman said. Two boys, who appeared to be about 12 years old, had seen the truck race by.
“Out of curiosity, they followed it,” he said. “They were standing there staring at this pickup down this ravine.”
They didn’t see the man, who had climbed out of the crash and was watching from a nearby porch.
“As soon as they dropped their bikes, he grabbed one of the bikes,” Haldeman said. “Now the boys are chasing him telling him to give back the bicycle.”
As the man came around the front of the house, he saw deputies and crashed the bike. He ran, and police dogs followed.
“All the while, he’s yelling at neighbors standing out in their yards, “You have to help me. I’m being chased by the police,” Haldeman said.
Eventually, the man broke into a garage and attempted to take off on a motorcycle.
Again, his flight using a stolen vehicle didn’t last long.
“He saw deputies and crashed into a bush,” Haldeman said. “He’s not very good at driving.”
The man was subdued after a Taser shock. He and his girlfriend “have been on quite the crime spree,” Haldeman said.
The man, 33, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail after receiving a medical evaluation at the hospital. Court papers describe him as homeless. The woman was released pending further investigation.
The man was being held Wednesday for investigation of car theft, possessing a stolen car, attempting to elude and burglary.
The getaway truck, which had been stolen from a gas station, was pulled from the ravine, totaled.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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