Call it “angel dust,” “wet” or “sherm”, bad things can happen when dealing with someone under the influence of phencyclidine, or PCP.
Yesterday, just before noon, two West Precinct bicycle patrol officers were rolling through Pioneer Square when they saw two men in an argument on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Yesler. One of the men was smoking marijuana, so the officers approached the man and attempted to inform him that marijuana use is still prohibited in public spaces. As the officers were about to contact the man, another person came up to them and claimed to be the victim of a twenty dollar theft, and identified the smoker as the thief. The smoking suspect then immediately fled south on 2nd Avenue.
Officers chased after the suspect, who finally stopped in front of the Union Gospel Mission, where he fought with officers, pushing and hitting them in the face and head. One of the officers unsuccessfully tried to Taser the suspect, who then tried to grab the officer’s Taser.
The suspect put up quite a fight, pushing, pulling and kicking several officers, after they arrived at the scene to help arrest the suspect.
After officers were eventually able to get the man under control, they discovered the suspect had suspected marijuana in his bag, which wouldn’t have been a big deal had the man not been on Department of Corrections (DOC) supervision.
Officers contacted the suspect’s DOC supervisor, who gave the suspect a drug test, which came back positive for marijuana and, of course, PCP.
Because the suspect was high on PCP, officers had to take him to Harborview for treatment before booking him into jail. Naturally, once officers got the man to the hospital, he tried to escape out an emergency exit.
Police, Harborview Security, and Washington State Patrol troopers were able to get the man under control again, and he was eventually booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Assault, Investigation of drug possession, and violations of his DOC supervision.