Kent Police arrested a 38-year-old Kent man on multiple charges after a short pursuit that started when the officer tried to pull a vehicle over because it had no lights on at about 2:30 a.m. in the 20600 block of 120th Avenue SE.
No headlights when required is a common sign that the driver may be impaired, according to a June 26 Kent Police statement about the June 21 incident.
When the officer tried to pull the vehicle over, the driver refused. The officer reported that the driving became erratic and consistent with someone who is intoxicated, so he started a pursuit. DUI is one of the crimes where a pursuit is allowed by the state.
The driver slowed down at one point, which allowed the officer to perform a precision immobilization technique (PIT) to stop the vehicle. This was successful, but then the suspect refused to exit the truck.
Officers gave the suspect commands to exit, but instead he decided to shove multiple baggies of unknown drugs into his mouth, according to police. They observed that he began to pale, was sweating and his pupils were dilating.
The reportedly was frenetically looking for something inside the vehicle causing concern he was intending to arm himself. Eventually officers accessed the vehicle, and arrested him without incident. At the time of his arrest he had drugs still inside his mouth, and was armed with multiple knives and and an axe.
The suspect was taken to the hospital, administered Narcan, and while he was there threw up some of the baggies of drugs he had swallowed. The baggies contained fentanyl/percocet pills, according to police.
Officers contacted the vehicle owner and discovered that the vehicle was stolen in Seattle, but not yet reported.
Officers wrote and then served a warrant on the vehicle the following day, and located drug paraphernalia and evidence of additional criminal activity, according to police. Detectives continued the investigation, and arrested the man for investigation of possession of a stolen vehicle, eluding, possession of stolen property, DUI and multiple traffic violations.
The suspect was also arrested for several warrants, including $5,000 for failure to appear on a King County charge for possession of stolen vehicle; $5,200 for failure to appear on a Kent warrant for third-degree theft; $2,500 for possession of drug paraphernalia on a Redmond warrant; and a state Department of Corrections warrant for escape from community custody.
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