The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office received a priority assist call from Washington State Patrol after their trooper stopped answering their police radio.
The trooper had been responding to an occupied stolen car on I-5 in Tumwater.
When deputies and other state troopers arrived, they found the trooper fighting a man.
The sheriff’s office said the man was trying to gain access to his waistband/pocket area and refusing to be handcuffed, a behavior indicating he may be armed.
A responding deputy “deployed a taser numerous times before compliance was gained.”
When the man was searched a gun was found in the same area he had been reaching for while resisting arrest.
According to the sheriff’s office, the incident began when the trooper came upon the man changing a flat tire on the side of I-5.
There were no reports of injuries. Washington State Patrol is investigating the case.