Community Police & Fire
Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Driver realizes he should have just provided name and insurance
Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police , Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Gig Harbor Police arrested a 21-year-old Gig Harbor man on Oct. 19 on suspicion of hit and run with injury, five days after he allegedly hit a bicyclist with his car on 35th Avenue.
The crash occurred around 11 p.m. Oct. 14. The victim, a 49-year-old Gig Harbor man, explained to police that he was riding his bicycle past the entrance to an apartment building when he was struck by a vehicle. The 21-year-old driver called his parents, and his father came to the scene.
The driver and his dad provided the victim with a phone number, but refused to give him their names, addresses or insurance information.
The victim later called 911 to report the incident, but missed a call back from a Pierce County deputy. A few days later, after having seen a doctor for relatively minor injuries, he came to the Gig Harbor Police Department to report the crash.
The 49-year-old had taken a photo of the car’s license plate. The officer used that information to locate the driver. When he called the driver, his father again attempted to run interference. The father told the officer he would have to speak with his son’s attorney.
Instead, the officer went to the driver’s workplace and arrested him on suspicion of hit and run with injury. During the drive to the Kitsap County Jail for booking, the 21-year-old asked the officer if he would have been arrested if he had simply provided his name and insurance information. The officer responded, “no.”
DUI suspect cites service-related PTSD
A 35-year-old Gig Harbor man who hit a guardrail on Sentinel Drive during a suspected drunk driving incident on Oct. 19 told police he was struggling with effects of his previous military deployments.
Police responded after a witness called 911 to report that an SUV had hit a guardrail on Sentinel Drive and appeared to be trying to leave the scene. The collision damaged the guardrail badly enough to leave it partially blocking a lane of the road.
An officer arrived on scene and observed that the 35-year-old appeared intoxication. A check of records revealed that he had two previous DUI arrests in the past three years. Blood alcohol tests later showed that he was well above the legal limit.
The 35-year-old told the officer that he was struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder resulting from his previous military deployments. The officer, also a veteran, provided information on organizations that can help.
He also took him to the Kitsap County Jail, where the suspect was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Suspect says she’s 16 but looks 28
A shoplifting suspect unsuccessfully tried to convince officers that she was 11 years younger than she really is. All she got for her efforts was an additional criminal charge.
Security guards at a department store off Borgen Boulevard identified the woman as a likely shoplifter and asked officers to come to the store. After she walked out with more than $2,600 in unpaid merchandise, the police and loss prevention officers stopped her.
She gave them a fake name and tried to convince them that she was 16 years old. Officers told her she didn’t look like a teenager. In reality, she was a 28-year-old Tacoma woman.
The woman later told officers that she has a 5-year-old child for whom she struggles to provide. She said she steals merchandise and takes it to another person, who gives her a percentage of the haul based on the quality and quantity of the merchandise. Among the items she walked out with were printer ink, electronics, cosmetics and Legos.
Officers took the woman to the Pierce County Jail, where she was booked on suspicion of theft. Because she lied about her name, officers added an additional charge of providing false information.