A Pierce County trooper tried to pull over a driver going 103 mph, but instead of stopping, the driver took off, blew past a set of spike strips, and kept the chase rolling into King County. By the time it was over, ground troopers had thrown down a second set of spike strips, thrown a couple of PIT maneuvers, and the driver was still going — on his rims.
According to the Washington State Patrol, the pursuit began during a joint District 1 and District 2 Target Zero emphasis patrol, a high-visibility enforcement push that puts extra troopers on the lookout for extreme speeding, aggressive driving, and impaired drivers along the Interstate 5 corridor. The driver initially avoided the first set of spike strips deployed by troopers, then continued fleeing into King County as the pursuit escalated.
That’s when WSP’s aerial unit, known by the call sign Smokey, got involved. The agency says Smokey provided an aerial option that helped troopers create distance and reduce the risk of the pursuit, maintaining visual contact with the fleeing vehicle from the air while ground troopers disengaged and pulled back to prepare for a safer stop.
How the Plane Changed the Chase
WSP’s Aviation Section flies a fleet of five Cessna fixed-wing aircraft out of Olympia Airport, equipped with Forward-Looking Infrared thermal cameras and Augmented Reality Systems that let pilots track vehicles and measure their speeds from the air, day or night, according to 102.7 KORD. The setup lets ground troopers back off entirely rather than trail a fleeing car at triple-digit speeds through populated corridors, cutting the danger to other drivers while the plane keeps eyes on the target overhead…