Kent Police pin fleeing burglary suspect’s car, tase him when he runs

KENT, Wash. — A suspect in a Kent burglary was determined to get away, but an officer and a sergeant used teamwork to take the fleeing man into custody.

Shortly before 11 a.m. on Sunday, dispatchers told patrol officers that a construction site on Kent’s East Hill near the 28500 block of 144th Avenue Southeast had just been burglarized.

The witness said the suspect had left in a gray, 2007 Toyota Prius heading north on 144th.

Kent Police Sgt. Clay spotted the Prius and turned on his police lights in the hopes the driver would stop, but the suspect wasn’t fazed and kept going.

A recent change in Washington state law would have allowed the sergeant to chase the suspect, but Clay was also looking for a safe place to do a pursuit intervention technique — commonly known as a PIT manuever — to stop the car.

With help from a patrol officer, the maneuver worked and they used their police cruisers to pin the car and keep it from leaving.

But the suspect, a 32-year-old Bellevue man, was not ready to give up. He got out of the car and started running, yelling back at the officer who was tailing him that he was on fentanyl and “hated the drug.”

After giving the running man numerous warnings that he would be shocked with a stun gun if he didn’t stop, that’s exactly what happened — the suspect was tased.

At that point, the man finally stopped, was taken into custody, and then checked out at a local hospital. After he was found to be OK, he was booked into the King County Jail for burglary, eluding and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Meanwhile, back at the stolen car, officers could see various tools and a computer monitor through its windows.

They matched the descriptions of the items that were stolen in the construction site burglary.

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