PUYALLUP, Wash. -- A man driving erratically was shot and killed by Pierce County Sheriff's deputies on Saturday after the man allegedly attempted to ram their patrol cars.

The incident began around 3 p.m. when police received several 911 calls reporting a man driving erratically near 160th and Canyon Road south of Puyallup. A Pierce County deputy was in the area and saw the man zoom by him at speeds estimated at 70-80 mph, said Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

The deputy attempted to pull the driver over, but he continued to flee, clipping several cars as he sped away.

"He hit this red car... and then he hit signs and then he hit a white truck and then he went crazy down the street; he was doing 80 mph," said witness Brenda Bush. "(He was a) maniac, like on drugs."

Deputies performed a PIT maneuver to force the man to stop, Troyer said, and the driver ended up broadsiding a deputy's cruiser. After the collision, the man turned his car around and started driving toward other deputies who had formed a blockade around the collision.

The deputies opened fire and shot the driver. His SUV then crashed into a ditch near 162nd Ct. E.

The man, whose name has not been released, died at the scene.

"If you drive at police officers and they have guns pointed out you and you drive at them, you're going to get shot," Troyer said. "Because the car could easily run them down, kill them, or kill citizens, or cause a major traffic wreck."

It was not known how many officers fired, or how many times the man was hit. At least three bullet holes were visible in one of the SUV's passenger windows.

No one else was injured in the melee.