TEEN MOTORIST OUTRUNS DEPUTIES FOR MORE THAN HALF AN HOUR, THEN WRECKS
• A 16-year-old driver is in the hospital this morning after a police chase that began in Pierce County and continued for another 30 minutes through Thurston County and ended with the late model Ford Escort on its side in a field off Tilley Road, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy said he didn’t know why the Olympia resident was being pursued by a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy but but two Thurston deputies caught up to him in Yelm about 3:30 yesterday morning. The teenage driver reached speeds of 95 mph although he slowed to about 60 mph in Tenino, according to Mealy. He drove with no lights on, sometimes on the wrong side of the road and at one point nearly rear-ended a flat-bed tow truck, Mealy said. He avoided spike strips on Old 99 and jumped on Interstate 5 northbound up to the Maytown exit, Mealy said. A Thurston deputy on Tilley Road performed what Mealy called a “technical vehicle intervention” which spun the Escort off the road and into the field. The teen was ordered out of the car and taken by ambulance to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia. The driver, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, was arrested for eluding, Mealy said. The lieutenant said he didn’t know details about the teen’s injuries.
GRASS BURNS
• Firefighters in Winlock extinguished a grass fire yesterday afternoon along Kakela Road east of town that had grown to about 200 feet by 50 feet. Lewis County Fire District 15 Lt. Kevin Anderson said they suspected a cigarette may have ignited it but could not find an offending butt.
MAN DEMANDS MILLIONS FROM LAYWER
• A 48-year-old man was arrested at the Motel 6 in Centralia yesterday after he reportedly called 911 and made threats to kill a local attorney, according to the Centralia Police Department. It happened about 6:30 p.m. at the 1300 block of Belmont Avenue. Police Sgt. Kurt Reichert said Steve Fullerton, of Morton, called the lawyer a “jack-booted Nazi pig” and said he needed millions of dollars a day for his pain and suffering from the lawyer or he would kill him. Fullerton was booked into the Lewis County Jail for felony harassment. The identity of the attorney was not disclosed.
WANTED SUBJECT HIDES ON PORCH
• After a police officer during a traffic stop in Centralia yesterday recognized a passenger with an outstanding warrant, the passenger fled on foot but was found a short time later hiding on a porch, according to the Centralia Police Department. It happened around 2:25 p.m. near the 900 block of Marion Street. Richard R. Dahl, 26, of Centralia, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail, according to police.
CUTTING AND BREAKING LOCKS
• Somebody stole a red and black Honda generator after they cut the padlock on a shed on the 13,400 block of Tilley Road South outside Tenino, according to a report made to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office yesterday. The victim told a deputy it must have happened while she was away between June 22 and July 7, the sheriff’s office said this morning. The loss was estimated at $3,500.
• The sheriff’s office took a report yesterday that a laptop was missing after a Rochester business was burglarized. Somebody broke through a deadbolt lock at “Uncle Howard’s” on the 18,200 block of Pendleton Street Southwest sometime between the evening of July 13 and the morning of July 20, according to sheriff’s Lt. Chris Mealy. Computer, tools and other items of value were left behind, Mealy said.
• Somebody cut a chain to get inside a Department of Fish and Wildlife barn on the 17,900 block of Guava Street in Rochester and took a weed trimmer, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reported today. The report made yesterday noted it occurred sometime between 8 p.m. on July 13 and 9 a.m. on July 20.
• Centralia police reported yesterday forced entry was made to a residence on the 1000 block of Elm Street. Tools were taken in the theft that was reported to police Tuesday morning.
OPIUM POPPIES SEIZED
• The Olympian reported yesterday the Tenino Police Department found a variety of natural and made made drugs – including 52 opium poppies – when it served a search warrant at a local residence. Read news reporter Jeremy Pawloski’s story here [1].