A 31-year-old Spanaway man and a 30-year-old Spanaway woman each face charges after a wild Thursday morning, Feb. 9, along Pacific Highway South in Kent and Des Moines.
As previously reported by the Kent Reporter, the two carjacked one vehicle and attempted to carjack other vehicles prior to a Kent Police officer firing his gun (nobody was hit by shots), and the man and woman taken into custody.
The man faces charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree attempted robbery, four counts of hit-and-run, attempting to elude and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to King County Superior Court documents. The woman faces charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree theft of a motor vehicle. Both remained in custody Feb. 13, with the man in the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle and the woman in the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
The two are not being named by the Kent Reporter because they have yet to be formally charged.
First appearance King County Superior Court documents, based on police reports, revealed more details about the pursuit of the two:
At about 10:55 a.m., Des Moines Police viewed a suspicious truck in the parking lot of Planet Fitness, 27072 Pacific Highway S., in Des Moines. An officer saw a Ford F-250 with a man in the driver’s seat and a woman in the passenger seat. They both looked asleep or passed out.
Upon closer inspection, the officer noticed the truck engine was off and the driver’s door keyhole was “punched” and surrounding assembly damaged and there were no keys in the ignition. The vehicle was registered to a Kirkland address. An officer pulled up a photo of the registered owner on his laptop and the man in the truck was not the same man.
Des Moines officers placed Rat Trap devices under both rear wheels and the front passenger tire in an effort to deflate the tires to stop the truck from fleeing. The officers initiated contact with the driver, who started the engine and reportedly sped through the parking lot at a high rate of speed. Des Moines Police did not yet pursue the vehicle because it didn’t meet new state laws for a pursuit.
Officers kept an eye on the truck with smoke coming from the tires. The truck pulled into the Dollar Tree parking lot, 26100 Pacific Highway S., in Kent. The man and woman both fled on foot and reportedly tried to carjack a Honda Pilot.
The driver of the Pilot told police he was sitting in his vehicle when a man opened his door and tried to pull him out. Police vehicles pulled into the lot, so the man got back into the truck with the smoking tires with the female passenger.
The man drove southbound in the northbound lanes of Pacific Highway South and pulled into the ARCO gas station, 27202 Pacific Highway S., in Federal Way. The man and woman ran up to a Honda Accord with the man pointing a gun at the driver’s head and ordered he and his female occupant out of the car. They exited the car in fear of their lives.
The armed man and his female passenger then got back on to Pacific Highway and continued northbound. Due to the crime of an armed carjacking, Des Moines and Kent police officers pursued the Accord.
The Accord, traveling at a high rate of speed, collided with a Chevy Impala at South 254th Street and Pacific Highway South. The man continued to drive the damaged Accord and went northbound in the southbound lanes.
At the intersection of South 224th Street, southbound traffic was stopped at a red light. The man rammed the Accord through the first two vehicles stopped for the light and then collided with a taxi and a truck before it sideswiped another vehicle.
The two fled the Accord and the armed man pointed his gun at the driver of a Nissan Altima. That’s when two Kent Police officers arrived at the scene. One officer fired his gun and didn’t hit anybody. The man then threw away the gun he was carrying. Police took the man and the woman into custody.
Police later confirmed the truck the two had initially been spotted in at the Planet Fitness parking lot had been stolen out of Kirkland.
“We are incredibly fortunate that the suspects in this matter did not seriously injure or kill anyone,” Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said in a statement. “I am thankful that our officers were able to intervene, and the dangerous suspects are in custody.”
While the suspects were not injured, Padilla has turned the incident over to the Valley Independent Investigation Team to conduct an investigation into the shooting that will not include anyone from the Kent Police Department. The officer who fired a weapon has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol. Renton Police are leading the investigation.
Nobody was reportedly injured during the carjacking, attempted carjackings or crashes. King County prosecutors file carjacking cases under robbery and other charges because there is no criminal offense called carjacking.
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