By Martín Bilbao
The Olympian (Olympia, Wash.)
THURSTON COUNTY, Wash.— Deputies arrested a 36-year-old man accused of dealing drugs following a Wednesday evening pursuit south of Tumwater.
Sheriff Derek Sanders posted about the pursuit on Facebook and shared footage of a successful use of a Grappler, a bumper-mounted net that can attach to fleeing vehicles and bring them to a stop.
The Sheriff’s Office obtained the Grappler nets last year to use as an alternative to PIT maneuvers, or precision immobilization technique, which can be risky and cause damage to patrol vehicles. In this case, Sanders said the net helped deputies arrest a man accused of dealing drugs while armed.
Olympia police first followed the man down Interstate 5 after a Flock camera alerted them to his vehicle, Sanders said. The Olympia Police Department acquired Flock cameras last year to read license plates passing through the city.
As the driver traveled south, Olympia police called the Sheriff’s Office to help with a Grappler.
“Unfortunately for this particular drug dealer, TCSO had 20+ deputies, multiple K9’s, and multiple grappler equipped vehicles on patrol tonight,” Sanders said in his Facebook post.
Deputies attempted a traffic stop but the driver fled at speeds around 100 miles per hour, according to court records. Sanders authorized a pursuit and a deputy with a Grappler on their vehicle began tailing the driver’s vehicle.
The deputy used the Grappler after the driver exited I-5 onto Maytown Road and turned onto Case Road . As a result, Sanders said the pursuit ended in about 2 minutes and 25 seconds with no damage to the pursuing patrol vehicle.
In the video, Sanders can be seen exiting his vehicle and issuing commands to the driver. He’s joined by a few other deputies, including one with a police dog.
The man asks, “What did I do?” as he exits his vehicle and walks backwards per the deputies’ orders. At one point, Sanders yells at the man to keep his hands up but uses an expletive.
In response to a Facebook comment, Sanders said swearing was necessary because the man “waived his right to politeness when he failed to follow orders.”
Sanders said the man became more compliant after being cursed at. He accused the man of cursing back at him as well.
“These are hardened criminals dealing drugs while armed, not toddlers,” Sanders said in his response. “When you politely ask them to do things, they test your command presence and look for opportunities to continue doing whatever bad thing it was we caught them doing.”
Deputies arrested the man and interviewed him in the back of a patrol vehicle, per court records. One of them asked him if he knew what to do when an officers activates their emergency lights.
The man allegedly replied, “Hit the gas,” and then added he was joking.
Deputies located firearm ammunition in his pocket. When asked where the firearm was, the man said he was done speaking.
The man was booked into the county jail on suspicion of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, unspecified attempted unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and third-degree theft.
Sanders said the man had multiple warrants for his arrest as well.
Those warrants included a felony state Department of Corrections warrant for second-degree theft, an assault warrant from Benton County and two domestic violence protection order violation warrants from Olympia Municipal Court , according to the jail log.
The man was scheduled to appear in Thurston County Superior Court Thursday for his preliminary appearance. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has only accused him of eluding police in a probable cause statement and he has not been charged yet.
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