High-Speed Police Pursuit Ends in Car Flipping in Thurston County 

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A high-speed police pursuit near Yelm on Tuesday ended in the fleeing vehicle crashing into a cement wall and flipping over.

Police booked a 37-year-old man into Thurston County jail on Tuesday, March 30, and Thurston County Superior Court commissioner Nate Kortokrax found probable cause for hit and run attended and eluding a police vehicle.

Kortokrax set bail at $2,500 because the man has three pending cases out of King County, Sumner and Portland, Oregon.

A probable cause statement describes law enforcement's account of the pursuit and investigation.

Around noon Tuesday, Nisqually police responded to a reported hit and run near the Nisqually Market Shell on Yelm Highway.

The person who reported the collision told police a man driving a silver Toyota Corolla hit his car while at a drive through. Nisqually police learned the suspect was traveling toward Yelm and began searching for the silver car.

An officer who spotted the car on State Route 510 attempted to initiate a traffic stop after observing the silver car drive into the incoming lane in a no-passing zone.

According to the statement, the officer turned on his emergency lights and siren near Southworth Elementary but the silver car did not stop.



The car reached speeds of 90 miles per hour as it continued east on SR 510, the statement read. In response, police deployed stop sticks on the road.

After driving over the strips, police say the silver car began swerving in both lanes, forcing oncoming traffic to swerve off the road to avoid a collision.

At about the 14480 block of SR 510, the car went off the road on the left side and ran into a cement wall, according to the statement.

Police say the car bounced off the wall and flipped over before coming to rest on a tree. The pursing officer exited his car and approached the vehicle with his pistol drawn, the statement read.

Meanwhile, the man reportedly kicked out his passenger side window to escape the wreckage, the statement read.

The officer reports he ordered the man to stay on the ground but he stood up and allegedly said, "I don't want to." At this point, the officer put his gun away and decided to taser the man, according to the statement.

Another officer from Yelm also tasered the man and he was forced to the ground, the statement read. Police say the man was not armed and there were no passengers in the car.

After medics cleared the man, police arrested him on suspicion of attempting to elude a police vehicle and hit and run attended.