A Washington State Patrol trooper tried to pull over a driver going 96 mph in a 60 mph zone, kicking off a pursuit that wound onto Interstate 5 and into downtown Seattle before the driver abandoned the car and ran off on foot. Troopers deployed spike strips and attempted a PIT maneuver to end the chase, but neither worked, and a WSP aircraft that had been tracking the vehicle from above eventually lost sight of the driver after the car exited the freeway at Olive Way.
WSP spokesperson Rick Johnson said the pursuit began after a trooper tried to stop the speeding driver, according to KING5.com. As the vehicle sped away, troopers deployed spike strips and attempted to force it to a stop with a PIT maneuver, ramming it from behind in an effort to spin the car to a controlled stop, but the tactic did not work. A WSP Cessna followed the vehicle from the air throughout the chase, maintaining visual contact even as ground troopers worked to bring the pursuit to an end.
Troopers Pull Back as Chase Hits City Streets
Once the vehicle exited I-5 at Olive Way and entered downtown Seattle, ground troopers backed off from the pursuit, per the station’s report. That pullback reflects standard Washington State Patrol tactics: agency procedure calls for disengaging ground cruisers in dense urban areas while relying on aerial surveillance to keep watch on a fleeing vehicle, reducing the risk of a high-speed crash on crowded city streets, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The WSP plane kept tracking the vehicle even after ground units disengaged, but the driver eventually left the car and fled on foot, at which point the aircraft lost sight of the driver. Troopers were not able to locate the driver following the foot escape, per the same account.
How Troopers Identified a Suspect Without an Arrest
Despite losing physical sight of the driver, troopers identified the person as the vehicle’s registered owner, the outlet reports. WSP said it plans to forward charges to prosecutors, though establishing that the registered owner was actually behind the wheel during the escape is a standard that requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt for a felony charge, per the Washington State Legislature…