By Puneet Bsanti
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A DUI suspect fired at Pierce County deputies and struck one in his handcuff pouch late Tuesday night.
Deputies were in pursuit to arrest the man at 11:24 p.m. for DUI. The deputies were at a dead end in the 4300 block of Vickery Avenue East when they advised other deputies over the radio that shots were fired, according to a Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Facebook post.
The post said that a deputy thought he was struck, so he was taken to an ambulance. The suspect was in his car and refused to cooperate with police. A standoff ensued.
Later, officers learned a second deputy in a two man car was struck. The bullet hit his handcuff pouch and bent one of his handcuffs. The deputy was uninjured from the bullet, but had minor injuries from glass cutting his face.
Pierce County SWAT was called and took over the standoff. Tacoma SWAT was also on the scene with an armored vehicle, the post said.
At about 1:28 a.m. , deputies arrested the man, and he was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. It was not immediately clear how he was injured. The Pierce County Force Investigation Team will take over the shooting investigation, the post said.
All deputies who were involved in the incident will be placed on administrative leave per the sheriff’s department policy, according to a Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.
In a Wednesday afternoon Facebook post, a Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said that they have had three shootings and this is the fourth time a deputy was shot at in the past four weeks.
“We are thankful that our deputies were not seriously injured but are concerned with the recent violence directed towards our deputies,” the post said.
This story was originally published December 13, 2023 , 8:08 AM .
___
(c)2023 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
Visit The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) at www.TheNewsTribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.