By Stacey Mulick
The News Tribune
TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police arrested a man today after he reportedly used a stolen car to run down a Tacoma police officer and then led authorities on a high-speed chase.
The incident began at 11:07 a.m. in the parking lot of Cost Plus World Market, 4036 Tacoma Mall Blvd.
Police Capt. Mike Miller said officers were dispatched to the parking lot to investigate the possibility that a stolen car was there. One of the officers got out of his own car and was approaching the stolen vehicle when the driver accelerated, striking the officer, Miller said.
The officer fired his gun at the suspect’s car. The car was struck four times as it sped out of the parking lot, Tacoma police spokesman Andrew Hankins said.
Joe Quintana, a salesman at Video Only, was inside the store when he heard gunshots. He went to the front of the building and saw the suspect’s car zip out of the parking lot, leaving a hub cap behind. The vehicle sideswiped another car near the Red Robin restaurant.
“It was crazy,” Quintana said. “He was going 60 mph out of here.”
The injured officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition. No other details about the officer – including his age and time on the force – were immediately released.
Meanwhile, other Tacoma police officers chased the suspect’s vehicle.
Another officer hit the suspect’s car in front of Pat Lowry’s home on the corner of South Wright and Tacoma avenues. The suspect bailed out and broke into Lowry’s home, Hankins said.
Officers surrounded the house and kicked in the front door. A police dog went inside and arrested the suspect.
Escorted by officers, the suspect walked out of the house and then was taken away by ambulance. He was shot and had bite marks from the police dog, Hankins said.
Police officers had crime scenes roped off in the Cost Plus World Market parking lot and on Wright Avenue. Detectives were taking measurements and conducting interviews throughout the early afternoon.
Lowry, 71, was down the street plastering walls at another house she owns.
“I heard all the commotion and all the police cars,” she said. “I came down to watch, and it was my house.”
Copyright 2008 The News Tribune