Community Police & Fire
Gig Harbor Police Blotter | Suspect in bicycle theft fights with officers
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 officers and Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 35-year-old University Place man on suspicion of stealing an electric bicycle following a fight in which deputies say the suspect tried to reach for their firearms.
A Gig Harbor officer responding to provide backup used a taser to subdue the suspect. The 35-year-old was treated for injuries at St. Anthony Hospital and booked into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of theft, assault and resisting arrest.
Witnesses flagged down a deputy around 1 a.m. April 24 to alert them to the suspect near the intersection of 38th Avenue and Hunt Street. The owner of the bicycle reported its theft to officers the previous night.
The suspect fled and deputies pursued him.
When the suspect was cornered, he reached toward his waistband as if he had a firearm. One of the deputies tackled him.
During the ensuing struggle, a deputy reported that the suspect managed to partially unsnap the cover on his holster. The suspect shouted “kill me” throughout the struggle.
Deputies pummeled the suspect and applied pressure to his neck. He “started to daze off” due to that pressure, according to a deputy’s report, but resumed his resistance upon regaining his faculties. When a Gig Harbor sergeant arrived as back-up, he used his Taser to subdue the suspect.
Driver wrecks trailhead bathroom
A 23-year-old Gig Harbor woman collided with a public restroom building at a Cushman Trail park near Olympic Village early on April 30, according to a Gig Harbor Police report.
An officer parked in the Metropolitan Market parking lot on Point Fosdick Drive noticed the woman’s Honda SUV driving about 55 mph in a 30 mph zone and tried to pull it over. The SUV sped past the Olympic Village parking lot, hit a curb and collided with the restroom building and a large tree. Officers estimated she was driving 60 to 70 mph in a 25 mph zone.
The driver said she was not injured, but agreed to a suggestion from Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One medics that she be evaluated at the hospital.
Officers saw no signs of impairment. The driver said she fell asleep at a friend’s house and was just trying to get home quickly. Officers forwarded a report to prosecutors for possible charges of felony eluding and damage or vandalism to public property.
Felon busted, officers find gun in his car
Police arrested a 35-year-old Gig Harbor man for being a felon in possession of a firearm after finding him passed out in the driver’s seat of a car at a business on Point Fosdick Drive.
The manager of the business asked officers to check on the man, who was sleeping in a silver BMW sedan. Officers immediately noticed drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle when they arrived. They also noted what appeared to be a knife handle lodged in the door of the car.
Officer woke the man and asked him to step out of the car. He declined to provide permission to search the vehicle, but later admitted a firearm was inside. After checking records, officers learned the suspect had previous convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm, vehicle theft and drug crimes, along with an outstanding warrant.
After a judge granted a search warrant, officers found a pistol with its serial number shaved off inside the vehicle. Officers booked the suspect into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm, altering identification marks on a firearm and drug possession.
Thieves steal something irreplaceable
A 44-year-old woman, currently living homeless in the Gig Harbor area, told police that someone stole her bag after she suffered a fall on March 5. The bag contained both medications and the cremated remains of her son.
The woman reported the crime on April 23. She told police she was walking along an unknown road on March 5, pulling a wagon containing her belongings, when she tripped and fell. Several people stopped to offer help.
Later, the woman noticed that one of her bags was missing. That bag contained both pain medications and her son’s ashes. A woman found the bag later and dropped it off at the Gig Harbor Police Department, but it was empty of the 44-year-old’s possessions.