Tacoma, WA - Drunken Suspect Smashes Window of Running Pierce Co. Deputy Sheriff's SUV - Steals It.

Tacoma, WA - Thursday, January 17, 2008 
Deputy's car stolen while checking out a call



A shoeless, drunken man allegedly broke out the window of a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy’s SUV and took off in the idling patrol vehicle Wednesday.
The man ditched the Ford Expedition on a dead-end road less than two miles away, stole a bicycle and a pair of shoes and was arrested within an hour after a police dog tracked him down, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said.

“This guy went to the extreme by smashing the window out,” he said. “We don’t usually have people trying to steal fully marked police cars that are locked.”

The man was treated at a local hospital for dog bites and was to be booked in the Pierce County Jail on two counts of first-degree theft and one count each of malicious destruction of property, resisting arrest and drunken driving.

Troyer gave this account of what investigators believe happened:

The deputy, a 15-year veteran of the force who’s name was not released, had responded about 7:45 a.m. to an incident involving a mother and her drunken 21-year-old son at a home in the 14300 block of 264th Street East.

There were reports the son had threatened to shoot police and that home contained guns.

The deputy parked the SUV and – following standard practice for a priority call – locked it and left the engine running. He went to the front porch and started talking to the son’s parents.

At that point, the son was believed upstairs and possibly armed. He wasn’t, and went out the back and around the front of the house to the Expedition.

“The kid used a big rock and threw it through the window,” Troyer said.

He then took off the in the vehicle and went less than two miles. During the short drive, he threw out the deputy’s laptop, which landed in a ditch and was later recovered.

The son stopped at a dead end in the 27200 block of 122nd Avenue Court East. He stole a pair of shoes and a bicycle, which he later ditched when it got stuck in the mud.

Deputies found the abandoned Expedition within 30 minutes and had a police dog track down the man within 30 minutes in 13800 block of 276th Street East
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