GHPD Blotter: Church-Vandalizing Teens Rescued, Speeding Motorcycle and a Lack of Brakes

The following arrest information was supplied by the Gig Harbor Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.

Feb. 16 

2:01 p.m. – An officer was working the radar in the 8400 block of Skansie Avenue, which was 25 miles per hour at the time and where a high school and Boys & Girls Club are located. As he was observing several joggers along the roadway, a motorcycle passed at a high rate of speed. The radar clocked the motorcyclist at 65 mph.

Stopped at the intersection of Skansie and Rosedale, the officer pulled behind the motorcycle. The driver revved his engine then sped through the intersection. The officer activated his lights, but the motorcyclist didn’t stop. In fact, he passed another vehicle in a no-passing zone.

The motorcyclist continued to drive at a high speed on Hunt Street, reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph in a 35 mph zone. He also allegedly ran a red light at the intersection of Wollochet and Fillmore.

Eventually, the motorcycle began experience mechanical problems, and he pulled onto the shoulder of Murphy Drive.  The officer got out of his car, held the motorcyclist at gunpoint and placed the 49-year-old man in handcuffs. When asked by the officer why he didn’t stop, the motorcyclist initially told him that he didn’t want to get a ticket, then later said “because I was being stupid.”

The driver was then booked into Pierce County Jail.

Feb. 17 

3:24 a.m. – An officer responded to a call about activity at Peninsula Lutheran Church. There, he spotted a vehicle leaving the parking lot and pulled over the car near 38th Avenue and Hunt Street. The officer approached, along with another officer, but when they approached the driver, the vehicle sped off. Officers chased, reaching speeds of 65 miles per hour and still not catching up.

The vehicle eventually crashed into a large tree in the parking lot of another church on 38th Avenue Northwest. Drivers approached the car, which was carrying three teen-agers who appeared to have suffered injuries. None of them appeared to be wearing seatbelts, and two airbags had deployed.  Also, the right side of the vehicle was on fire.

Firefighters arrived, extracted the teen-agers out of the car and extinguished the fire. While being transported to an area hospital, one of the teens told an officer that the three first started throwing rocks at someone’s car then decided to throw rocks at the Lutheran church. When the fire department was cutting the car open, officers observed a marijuana pipe and an empty Budweiser can in the car. The officer returned to the Lutheran church, where there was at least $1,200 worth of damage to the windows.

Feb. 19 

9 a.m. – Officers were dispatched to a report of a stolen RV from the Fife RV Center. The center suspected the vehicle could have been stole by an employee. It was later located in Puyallup.

9:10 a.m. – Officers were dispatched to Cigaretto in the 5500 block of Olympic Drive, where the owner described a white male wearing blue jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and light shoes came in and stole approximately $230 worth of cigarettes and tobacco products.

Feb 20 

3:59 a.m. – Officer saw a vehicle travelling at an extremely slow rate of speed through the intersection of 56th and Olympic Drive. The officer turned on his lights, but the vehicle failed to stop. The officer turned on the sirens, and the vehicle came to a stop in the center lane in the 500 block of Olympic Drive.

When the officer arrived to speak to the 79-year-old driver, her car was moving forward. She slipped it into reverse to stop it, but the car began to roll backward, where the officer’s patrol car was parked. He told her to hit the brakes, but she couldn’t stop it. He tried putting his foot in the car to stop it, but her legs were in the way. The vehicle continued backwards until it hit the pushbars of the patrol car. The woman told the officer, “Damn it, I’ve been driving for a hundred years.”

Officers took the woman home and impounded her car.

8:30 a.m. – A resident at The Lodge at Mallards Landing in the 7000 block of Wagner Way reported that her purse was stolen from her apartment. Her purse included $100 in cash, a checkbook, credit cards and her social security card.

1:30 p.m. – A mother and daughter reported that someone had broken into their SUV in the Gig Harbor Goodwill store parking lot in the 5500 block of Olympic Drive. They returned from shopping to find the daughter’s black down jacket, along with her canvas backpack with a wallet perfume and the girl’s drivers permit missing.

Feb. 23

2:15 a.m. – An off-duty Gig Harbor Police officer had stopped a car in the 5400 block of Rosedale Street. When the responding officer arrived, the off-duty officer was speaking to several male subjects behind the car.

The off-duty officer told the responding officer that he had pulled the car over because its taillight was out. The vehicle had been sitting at Gig Harbor High School. While talking with the suspects, the officers noticed a strong smell of intoxicants. Officers arrested 18-year-old driver for DUI, and a 19-year-old passenger was cited for a minor in possession of alcohol.

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