Officers arrested an auto thief after he crashed while trying to flee from police Thursday night in the West Precinct.
A West Precinct officer was on the lookout for a stolen car that had been spotted driving through the city at 9:30 p.m. As he pulled onto 1st Ave. at Seneca St. he spotted the stolen Dodge Dart. The officer pulled in behind the Dodge when it suddenly pulled over to the curb and the passenger side door swung open. The officer exited his patrol car and ordered the occupants out of the Dodge, but the driver quickly sped away, with one car door still open. The suspect swerved around traffic stopped at a red light and drove through an intersection before striking a truck and rolling into a guardrail at 1st Ave. and Columbia St.
The driver of the truck was uninjured in the collision.
Officers took the driver of the stolen Dodge and his passenger into custody. An ambulance took the suspects—a 24-year-old male and a 51-year-old female—to Harborview Medical Center for evaluation before booking them into King County Jail.