Sheriff’s Office helicopter assists in Kent Police chase | Watch video

Published 3:20 pm Thursday, September 25, 2025

Kent Police, with the assistance of the King County Sheriff’s Office Guardian 1 helicopter, tracked down a Kent man, reportedly driving recklessly on a dirt-style bike on the East Hill, and who then tried to run from officers.

(Check out the video on this YouTube link)

Officers arrested the man, 26, for investigation of attempting to elude a police vehicle, reckless driving and third-degree driving while license suspended, according to a Sept. 24 Kent Police Facebook post.

The Sheriff’s Office captured most of the chase on video has it followed the man on the dirt bike and on foot after he ran through backyards trying to flee from police. The man rode his bike along SE 270th Street and 124th Avenue SE, 116th Avenue SE and eventually was caught on foot in the backyard of a home along SE 265th Street.

A Kent officer was traveling at about 8:56 p.m. Sept. 16 on SE Kent Kangley Road when he saw a dirt-style bike traveling the opposite direction, according to police. The driver had no helmet, the bike had no headlight, no taillights and no turn signals. All of that made it not street legal and dangerous to ride at night, according to police.

The officer turned around to follow and caught up to the bike, according to police. The officer noticed that the rider was now taking selfies that included the police vehicle behind him. The rider then quickly took off and refused to stop.

The King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support helicopter Guardian 1 had been listening to the call. They got on the Kent Police radio to advise they were overhead and could follow the rider from above. At this point additional officers were now in the area and had pulled over, waiting for location info from Guardian 1.

The dirt-bike rider came back to the officers’ rally place to taunt them, according to police. He rode recklessly on the shoulder and sidewalk, popped wheelies, and drove in circles around their police vehicles trying to bait them to pursue. He would take off, and then wait for the officers to follow. He was filming himself while taunting the officers.

The rider reportedly was unaware that Guardian 1 was watching from above. He had ear plugs in and could not hear the helicopter. He drove around for a while, occasionally stopping to see if the patrol cars wanted to play his chase game, according to police.

He doubled backed, and did circles in the road trying to attract attention. But when officers would not engage, he returned home. As he pulled into his driveway, he dismounted, and finally took out his earplugs. At this point he heard the helicopter and realized it was hovering over his house.

“You can see the surprised look on his face as he scrambles to put his bike into the garage,” Kent Police reported after watching the video.

Guardian 1 provided the address to waiting officers, and they quickly move in to take the driver into custody for his reckless driving. The suspect must have thought that Guardian 1 could only track the bike, because he exited out his back door, hopped a fence, and tried to run away on foot. His movements were relayed to the officers on the ground, and he was quickly placed into custody without incident.

The motorbike was retrieved from the garage with the resident’s permission and impounded. The suspect’s cellphone with the evidentiary videos was retained pending a search warrant.