Community Police & Fire
Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Fleeing Mustang goes wrong way on Hwy. 16
Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.
A Silver Ford Mustang fleeing from Gig Harbor police ended up driving the wrong way on Highway 16 early on the morning of Nov. 6.
An officer spotted the Mustang, which officers were looking for in association with two previous incidents, at a gas station in Purdy. The Gig Harbor officer was turning around in Purdy to return to patrol duties inside city limits.
Officers had been looking for a silver Ford Mustang in connection with thefts from vehicles parked at a Cushman Trail parking lot on Oct. 22 and nearly hitting three young people in a crosswalk on Oct. 28. The officer saw the vehicle parked at a gas station in Purdy, with a man and woman getting inside.
When the officer attempted to speak to them, the male driver drove forward and nudged the officer’s patrol vehicle, which the officer parked to block the Mustang from leaving. Then the driver slammed the Mustang into reverse, crunching it into a car at a gas pump behind it, which had two adults and a 10-year-old inside.
The driver ignored the officer, who had drawn his service weapon. The Mustang drove over a berm and fled south on Purdy Drive.
The Mustang got onto eastbound Highway 16, exited at Wollochet, then got back on the freeway driving eastbound in the westbound lanes.
Officers couldn’t catch the Mustang, which was last seen driving east in the westbound lanes of Highway 17 near the 24th St ramp.
Guess he really wanted to quit smoking
A man stole several boxes of Nicorette smoking cessation gum from behind the counter of a drug store on Borgen Boulevard, the store manager reported.
The theft occurred on the evening of Nov. 9 and store employees reported it the next day. The manager told officers that the suspect took about $500 worth of Nicorette, which goes for $50 per box.
The manager promised to check the business’s video footage to provide suspect information.
Likely stolen pickup hits cyclist
A gray Dodge pickup, which officers suspect was stolen, hit a 79-year-old pedal cyclist in the intersection of Stinson Avenue and Grandview Street on the afternoon of Nov. 14.
The cyclist told officers he stopped at the intersection, then proceeded through when it appeared the pickup was going to stop. The pickup didn’t stop, hit the cyclist and knocked him down. He hit his head on the pavement and was checked out by Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One paramedics.
The investigating officer noted that a pickup with a similar description had just been stolen from Peninsula High School. The suspects who stole the gray Dodge left another stolen pickup, a green F-250, at the school. The Dodge was last seen driving south on Stinson.
Shoplifter suffers wardrobe malfunction
An officer patrolling the parking lot of a store on Point Fosdick Drive noticed a woman pushing a cart loaded with apparently stolen merchandise near a Ford F-150 pickup that lacked license plates around 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12.
The merchandise in the cart was not bagged and theft-prevention devices were attached to some items. When the officer tried to speak with the woman, she ran. The officer asked her to stop and warned her that he would tackle her if she continued running. She did, so he did.
Officers located two other suspects, a man and a woman, inside the store. The woman hid inside a toilet stall and refused to come out. An officer eventually tackled her, too, inside the bathroom. The officer who did the tackling handcuffed the suspect, then called a female officer to help the suspect after “her breast had been exposed” during the arrest. The female officer helped “place (the suspect’s) breast back into her very loose shirt.”
Officers turned the male suspect over to a neighboring agency, which had a felony domestic violence warrant for him. Officers drove the two women to Tacoma, at their request, and released them.
The stolen Ford pickup was towed until its owner could take possession.
Van drives through front doors
A car crashed into the doors of the Mattress Firm store on Borgen Boulevard on the afternoon of Nov. 10, according to Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.
GHFMO crews checked the driver, who was not injured, and the structural integrity of the building. Crews found no problems with the building but asked store employees to have a professional double-check.
Gig Harbor Police Tweeted this photo of a van that ran into the doors of building on Borgen Boulevard.