State troopers say a motorcyclist pushed past 160 mph on Interstate 5 in Tacoma, only to be hunted from the sky and boxed in on the ground after a high-speed run late last week. The Washington State Patrol’s Smokey 3 airplane tracked the bike from above while troopers on the freeway closed in, ending with an arrest in Federal Way. King County prosecutors have charged the rider with one count of attempting to elude a fleeing police vehicle, and the motorcycle has been impounded.
How Smokey 3 locked onto the rider
Trooper Nicholas Schureman, piloting Smokey 3 that day, told KOMO the crew first picked up the bike in Tacoma, then started working with troopers on the ground in the Seattle area. “I knew I would need to pick it up if I was going to keep up with him,” Schureman said, as the aviation team relayed real-time updates on the rider’s location to patrol cars below.
Boxed in and arrested in Federal Way
Troopers on the freeway tried several times to get the rider to stop, according to investigators, but the motorcycle kept going. Smokey 3 stayed overhead and followed the bike into an apartment complex in Federal Way, where officers moved in, boxed him in and took him into custody. He was booked into King County Jail, and prosecutors filed the attempting-to-elude charge this week, per KOMO.
Laser hit on patrol plane sparks separate arrest
Two days after the chase, the Smokey 3 crew reported a different kind of threat: someone on the ground in Pierce County shining a laser pointer at the aircraft. Video released by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies detaining a woman authorities say aimed the beam at the patrol plane. The agency’s blotter says she was arrested and charged with unlawful discharge of a laser pointer, and similar strikes on patrol aircraft have previously led to criminal charges in Washington, according to reporting by HeraldNet…