Fleeing suspects lead cops on 30-mile chase through W. Wash.
RENTON, Wash. - Three fleeing suspects were arrested late Friday after leading police and state troopers on a 30-mile chase through two counties, officials said.
The drama began at about 8:45 p.m. Friday as special operations agents with the Lynnwood police were looking for a suspect with an outstanding felony warrant.
The man was spotted in a Dodge Dakota pickup, but the vehicle refused to pull over when officers began following in a patrol car with lights flashing.
The pickup then headed from Highway 99 onto southbound Interstate 405 as state troopers and a King County sheriff's helicopter joined in the chase.
Lynnwood police backed off from the chase as the sheriff's helicopter continued following the suspect's pickup down I-405 onto Highway 169, and from there onto Houser Way South in Renton.
The suspect and two other people in the pickup then abandoned the vehicle, fleeing on foot to a Burger King at 311 Sunset Blvd. North in Renton as law enforcement personnel monitored their movements from the helicopter.
Police surrounded the restaurant and arrested all three of the people from the pickup - two men and a woman from the Lynnwood area.
A records check found that the driver had two outstanding felony warrants, the male passenger was a convicted felon with outstanding warrants and the female passenger also had a warrant.
All were taken back to Snohomish County and booked into jail.
No one was injured during the chase.
The drama began at about 8:45 p.m. Friday as special operations agents with the Lynnwood police were looking for a suspect with an outstanding felony warrant.
The man was spotted in a Dodge Dakota pickup, but the vehicle refused to pull over when officers began following in a patrol car with lights flashing.
The pickup then headed from Highway 99 onto southbound Interstate 405 as state troopers and a King County sheriff's helicopter joined in the chase.
Lynnwood police backed off from the chase as the sheriff's helicopter continued following the suspect's pickup down I-405 onto Highway 169, and from there onto Houser Way South in Renton.
The suspect and two other people in the pickup then abandoned the vehicle, fleeing on foot to a Burger King at 311 Sunset Blvd. North in Renton as law enforcement personnel monitored their movements from the helicopter.
Police surrounded the restaurant and arrested all three of the people from the pickup - two men and a woman from the Lynnwood area.
A records check found that the driver had two outstanding felony warrants, the male passenger was a convicted felon with outstanding warrants and the female passenger also had a warrant.
All were taken back to Snohomish County and booked into jail.
No one was injured during the chase.
That must a fun road trip.
Funny thing abut this whole story, where were the Bothell, Kirkland, and Bellevue P
D's during this chase? Usually on a Friday night (as well as most other nights), they are lined up and down 405 for speeding tickets and DWI's all night long. Did they not intervene because of "snobbery" (that is, the car wasn't the latest BMW, Mercedes, et al, so they didn't want to get their hands dirty?.) Usually those police depts have people pulled over in nice cars along 405, hardly ever see them chase beaters or pickups.
Second observation:, the whole trip taken by the perpetrators took at least 45 minutes through several jurisdictions...I know because I used to drive that same route commuting to Renton Boeing from North Lynnwwood several years ago. Everyday, each of those Police departments mentioned above had at least 2 cars for traffic waiting on the 405, along with at least 2-3 Snohomish and King Sherriff departments, and at least on WSP for tickets on the same road. The duration of this chase because of the usual heavy police presence makes one wonder if they priortized it lower than a speeding ticket chase...just sounds bizarre the length of the chase, especially ending back through the middle of Renton onto Sunset Blvd. Guess the money just wasn't hight enough priority for the other police departments. Anyway, glad they got caught in spite of several police agencies obviously more concerned about revenue than safety. Track the chase's route, you can see the non responders had it all about money, not safety. No high speed chase should last that long on that particular route.
@meta4
Well, thatâs certainly one theory.
Or perhaps, as the vehicle approached Bothell, Kirkland, and Bellevue, the various police departments were told that the WSP helicopter was already safely tracking the vehicle from the air and advised them that the driverâs past behavior indicated that a ground chase would probably end badly.
Just another theory to consider.
 @meta4 Other jurisdictions only enter pursuits if the pursuing agency requests it. Otherwise you get way too many officers involved and it's dangerous. There's no conspiracy here, and it certainly doesn't make a difference what kind of car they're chasing. Maybe you shouldn't speed quite so much, you sound awfully bitter (and extremely uninformed).
@Central @meta4 The article says that the helicopter used was one of theÂ
King County Sheriff Department's helicopters.
When did the WSP helicopter become involved in the chase?
Police: We used all available resources to track down and stop these criminals.
Judge: Here's your slap on the wrist. Now get out of here you crazy kids.
Police: Dammit!
@IlluminatiÂ
Weak-Judges  need  to  be  voted-OUT
There's all levels of felonies just as there are for misdemeanors. That said, why would someone think, "well I already have a felony, screw it, let's just take it as far as we can go!"?
I just don't get it. No matter how bad it's already going to be, why still make it worse for yourself?
edit: I'm kind of a grammar nazi, so does anyone know if I got the punctuation right on that imaginary quote?
@jowsufMaybe, "Well, I already have a felony; screw it, let's just take it as far as we can go!" ? But someone who would say that probably does not use correct grammar anyway, right? lol
@Willow Touché
Glad they got those people off the streets.
@Nancybratt They are probably back on the streets now as we speak..  A ZERO tolerance policy with STIFF penalties would eliminate a lot of BS like this..
We need to outsource this garbage to china. China has lots of Prison space and no "legal niceties" to restrain them in "Correcting" these pieces of human garbage. if they refuse to work in the sewers and rock quarries the chinese would have them doing 7 days a week 12 hours a day, they march you out in the dead of night and put you to sleep. keeping them at hard labor and out of trouble, thats what these losers need , for the next 20 years. Â
@sportbuff01 Of course you have never done anything wrong or broken any law in all your life...
We have a legal system - and now that we are going to stop overcrowding our legal system and prisons with people who have done nothing more harmful than to smoke (or eat) some vegetable matter - maybe we can put these facilities to their proper use in dealing with people who are actually dangerous to others!
If you are so enthralled by the Chinese system, why don't you try living there for a time: you might actually enjoy it! Or you might be horrified...
@JLS1950Â @sportbuff01 I,m 68 ,, have never been in jail except to bail out a relative and I see nothing wrong with strict punishment for braking the law. Our so called justice system is a joke.
@JLS1950You are correct and I agree with you that there are many innocent people in prison (Ryan Ferguson, for instance) and I don't believe in the kind of harsh imprisonment that exists in totalitarian countries like China. On the other hand, the justice system is not serving its purpose and removing the antisocial from society. They are given plea deals, short sentences, early parole, and allowed to continue committing the same crimes over and over. I think we are all sick and tired of the criminal with a long rap sheet who has no respect for the law and keeps hurting innocent people over and over.Â
@Snoop @JLS1950 @sportbuff01 I did not ask if sportbuff had ever been in jail: I asked if he had ever done anything wrong or broken any laws. There is a HUGE difference.Â
It has been shown that about 10% or a bit more of those we "convict" of crimes are in fact wholly innocent of the crimes charged. But it has also been shown that perhaps far more than 50% of those who COMMIT crimes are never identified, arrested or charged with those crimes - or often any other.
Now, have you never done anything that could have gotten your -ss in pokey if some cop had simply managed to see it or to tie it to you? I'd bet our so-called "joke" of a justice system has saved your bacon and sportbuff's both. My late brother would be 71 now, and never spent a night in jail insofar as I know. But I personally SAW him commit part of a felony one time - rolling back the odometer on a car he later sold.
And we "brake" our car for a stop, but we "break" the law when we get stupid. Just sayin'...
So there are 3 meth heads in a pickup truck and....
Wow, three for the chase of one. Great job!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/12/29/coming-soon-microwave-gun-that-can-destroy-your-car-from-600-feet-away.aspx
If the ACLU hadn't protested against this and banned it, we wouldn't have these stupid car chases.
@Vince: I sincerely doubt the ACLU had anything to do with the demise of this weapon. They go after laws and people who misuse laws, etc., not appliances.
Actually, this article (microwave gun) reminds me of a plan widely supported and touted by certain reputable scientists in the mid-late 1950's: to build a sea-level ship canal across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California by using thousands of thermonuclear bombs to excavate soil and bedrock! Just because some scientist like Dr. Edward Teller tells you a technology is "safe" doesn't at all make it so!
@Vince"operates on the same general principle as a microwave oven, but at a 300 megahertz frequency, rather than your standard microwave oven, which operates at about 2.5 gigahertz. It is said to be non-harmful to humans"Â
Uhhh...huuhhhh... and the testing was done by....? ...with subjects that have....? We know that microwaves can (1) affect heart pacemakers, defibrillators and other implanted medical devices, (2) cause damage to the eyeball due to overheating. In the 300 MHz range, high-power radio signals can affect every piece of electrical circuitry that has sensitive components and "wires" in the 1 - 6 foot range by length - including quite potentially the human nervous system itself! There is a reason why broadcast radio engineers are prohibited from exposing themselves to just such radio signals near TV transmission facilities!
However, one thing this sort of technology absolutely WILL NOT affect is any automobile or truck older than about the mid-70's with non-electronic ignition - probably most later vehicles until the introduction of full electronic engine control systems - or probably any diesel-powered vehicle up until the very latest models. Why? Because those models just don't have the easy-to-destroy high-tech electronics controlling their power trains!
So what we really have here is a highly experimental device that is in fact very likely to have harmful effects on at least certain humans (including completely innocent bystanders) and is in fact also very likely te be able to bring down that Sheriff's Department helicopter or any other modern small aircraft that comes within range - but which will be totally ineffective against entire classes of automobiles and trucks. And I doubt very much that it was ever really tested as much as claimed.Â
As this article correctly states, we have the Taser - which is still claimed to be "harmless" - but which we also know has been absolutely and irrecoverably lethal to many hundreds of people, including for example an elderly Polish immigrant in Canada whose only "crime" was that he kept speaking in incomprehensible noises that none of the responding officers could understand so they all decided he was "dangerous" and Tasered him. The man had been speaking standard Polish - the only language he knew!
And yet even after an apparently-healthy young man died locally after being Tasered and suffering a fatal irregular heartbeat for some time while in custody, local police still insist that the Taser is "non-harmful"! I say if the ACLU had a hand in getting THIS device banned, then bully for them!
@Vince Yes let's all embrace the police state...dumb.
@Vince Hasn't Uncle Sam done enough already????(not much of it good) I for one, wouldn't want this kind of power given to the govt. They can't seem to manage what they have(let alone a 7/11). Some rogue cop on the run(it does happen) gets his hands on one....then what??? That'll be a chase for the ages.  Where does it stop???Â
Bruce Harrell wants some small business owner to hire all three of these winners.Â
Yuo just can't hide from the county's eye in the sky. The second that thing is up there, you're f'n screwed!
Out ran by a Dakota. Hmmm. That would be pretty much embarrassing. Seems like letting these people hold up in a Burger King where innocent people are and work is s scary tactic at best.  My bet is they will not get eluding police added to charges.
I am shocked that nobody was able to get there prior to them getting out of vehicle.
Then the simple fact that the helicopter is hovering above innocent victims to catch these fools. Too much risk is you ask me.
It started in Sno county and ended in Renton. Pursuing officers backed off and turned off emergency equipment so the idiot felon would slow alittle and reduce the risk. G1 monitored and directed units in, which can cause a slight delay.Â
@Federal WayÂ
Actually, it sounds a lot less risky than the alternative, which is to chase them through traffic until they crash, possibly killing innocent people along the way. These guys clearly weren't going to stop for anything, so lulling them into a false sense of security (by letting them think that they had ditched the cops) seems like the smarter move.
And people freak out about the suggestion of drones working the skies. This is the benefit to embracing tech.
Nice work officers...
Must of missed the part in the story about turning their lives around...
Good job G1. Glad it's back in service.
@Komo Dragon Really? Was it out of service for a while?
@Zoso:Â It broke a couple of rotor blades at the Renton Airport about a month ago.
@Zoso @usnrbb G2 does not have a FLIR which was probably instrumental
@usnrbb Insteresting. I thought they had a second one which was the old one. I heard they were still gonna use it whenever the new one they got from I think Homeland needed it's regular maintenence. Regardless, glad it's goin' again.Â
Stopped at Burger King to re-fuel before being arrested.
"the vehicle refused to pull over when officers began following in a patrol car with lights flashing."
I think the "vehicle" should be charged as well. Felony eluding, reckless endangerment and be given a severe slap on the fender.
@Glassman you beat me to it ... I am glad you did not jump on the "ban"- wagon.
Typical dipsticks. They probably didn't even know the helicopter was there. "Hey Jim Bob! You outran 'em!"Â
@SargeMcC Nah, typical TWEAKERS/ DOPE FIENDS (just a thought)
We need a new law preventing this type of thing.
@SandyBeach A little extreme for some people just wanting a Whopper before going to jail, dont you believe?
@DarkRenegadeCept theres like 10 BKs between Lynwood and Renton.....
Guess we need better drive thrus
We need a drone that can fire a single 25mm ACP round through the engine compartment of vehicles driven by idiots that flee.
@Ankle BiterUmmmmm, there's no such thing as "25mm ACP". 25mm APFSDS, OK. ACP is "Automatic Colt Pistol".
Leave the weapons jargon to those who have some understanding of the subject, thanks very much.
@MacNasty Your right. I was stupid. I deserved that. I meant armor piercing round but actually since most hood metal on vehicles is thin that's probably not needed. Just have to smash up the timing belt housing to put a end to the chase.
@MacNasty Thats telling like it is ,,, set this nubile straight.