A man driving an aqua green Honda Civic CRX through Kent streets at speeds of more than 80 mph during a police pursuit thought he had lost the patrol car when he pulled into a Wendy’s drive-thru restaurant in Renton.
Within moments, Renton Police surrounded the car at the drive-thru lane in the 17800 block of 108th Avenue Southeast at about 2:30 a.m. April 14, according to the police report. Kent Police arrested the man for investigation of eluding an officer.
The driver escaped the Kent officer after about a 3-mile chase that took only a couple of minutes. But Renton Police had listened to the pursuit on the Kent Police radio station and figured the man might head up the South 180th Street hill after he left northbound Highway 167. A short time later, they saw the aqua green Honda at the Wendy’s.
The incident started with a 911 call to report about 20 to 30 vehicles getting ready to race in a parking lot in the 19000 block of 62nd Avenue South in North Kent, a well-known area for weekend street racing.
As a patrol officer headed northbound on 62nd Avenue South, he noticed two cars coming toward him. A Honda Civic had its headlights off but then the driver turned on the lights as he passed the patrol car. The officer turned his car around and activated his emergency lights in an effort to pull over the car.
The driver of the Honda then sped up and went eastbound on South 196th Street. The driver ran a red light at South 196th Street and West Valley Highway, reaching speeds estimated at more than 80 mph.
The officer continued to pursue the Honda, which sped southbound on the East Valley Highway and then eastbound on South 212th Street. The officer saw the car take the northbound onramp to Highway 167, but then lost sight of the vehicle and ended the pursuit.
After Renton Police radioed they had the car stopped at the top of South 180th Street, the Kent officer went to the Wendy’s and confirmed it was the same car he had pursued.
The driver of the Honda told the officer, “I wasn’t even racing,” but then declined to say anything else about the incident.
The report noted that the vehicle had no front passenger seat and no rear seat. Drivers who race often remove those seats.
Assault
Police arrested a man for investigation of third-degree assault after he reportedly punched a Metro bus driver in the nose at about 5 p.m. April 17 downtown near Central Avenue and Meeker Street.
Several officers later drew their guns and ordered the man to the ground near a Kent Transit Center bus shelter after reports that he might have a gun, according to the police report.
Officers discovered the man had a black plastic gun in a satchel he carried on his shoulder.
The incident began when a bus driver called 911 to report he had been punched by a passenger. The driver and another passenger then forced the man off the bus. The man held a plastic gun to the bus door before he fled on foot.
The driver told police the man had yelled and screamed at passengers and he finally asked the man to leave the bus. The man then turned around and punched the driver as he sat behind the steering wheel.
Witnesses later called 911 to report the man had shown up at the Kent Transit Center. An officer drew a rifle which caused about a dozen people near the man to flee the area. The officer ordered the man to the ground and the man complied. Several other officers also drew their weapons as they moved forward to handcuff the man.
Malicious mischief
Officers arrested a man for investigation of third-degree malicious mischief after he reportedly used a key to slash the tire on his wife’s car and later armed himself with a rock and then an AK-47 rifle.
The incident happened at about 10:13 p.m. April 17 outside of a house in the 27800 block of 130th Avenue Southeast, according to the police report.
Officers responded to a domestic violence call and saw a man with a rifle who fled on foot and then jumped a fence into the backyard of a home. Police eventually caught the man coming out of a yard in the 13100 block of Southeast 279th Place.
The man no longer had a rifle as officers surrounded him and ordered him to the ground. The man refused to go to the ground so an officer used a Taser to shoot the man with darts in the ribs and leg. The man fell forward onto his forearms and officers handcuffed him.
The wife told police that she had picked up her husband at an apartment complex near Denny’s and they began to argue. He appeared to be intoxicated. When they got to their house, the husband went inside and reportedly came back with a key and slashed a tire on his wife’s vehicle. He then came back later with a rock to throw at her, so she called 911.
Moments later, the man went back inside the house and came out with the AK-47. Officers found the rifle in the driveway of another nearby house, where the man had apparently ditched it.
Vehicle prowl
A King County Sheriff’s Office detective reportedly had his unmarked car broken into when he went inside a pawn shop to investigate a case April 17 in the 100 block of Central Avenue North.
A witness entered the shop to report a car had been broken into, according to the police report.
The detective went outside to find his front passenger window smashed. The thief took a laptop as well as folders of active cases the detective was working. The files were with a black folder on the front passenger seat.
Police checked the store’s video cameras but the camera had not been placed in record mode so there was no video of customers entering or leaving the store.
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