Man high on fentanyl leads police on chase through Renton, hits patrol and parked cars
By: The Renton Police Department said they got a call about a man knocked out cold at the wheel while stopped in the middle of the street on Dec. 19. When officers tried to wake him, he slammed the gas and took off.
"The officer arrived and looked in the car and saw someone definitely passed out and also noticed suspected drug paraphernalia in the seat of the car," said Meeghan Black with Renton Police Department.
The incident took place at the top of Benson Hill on 108th Avenue and Southeast Petrovitsky Road around 8:30 p.m.
"They started banging on the window of the car to wake him and get him to come out," Black said.
With the suspicion of drug use, officers put down spike strips to disable the car in case the driver woke up erratically and tried to flee. Sure enough – that's exactly what happened.
"He slammed the accelerator, literally pushed the patrol car out of the way, backed up and sped down the street," Black said.
The 39-year-old man at the wheel abruptly turned left down Petrovitsky Road and sped off.
"He's driving erratically, and you can see he loses control of the car. Literally rolls up on two wheels, drops back down and takes off again," Black said.
At that point, the driver was running on three out of four flat tires. Yet, he kept driving.
"Again, crashes his car and he gives up where officers are able to put him under arrest," Black said.
In the suspect's pocket, officers found 22 pills. Each one of them was field-tested, and every one of them tested positive for fentanyl.
"When this individual chose to ram into patrol cars, he put all those officers' lives at risk," Black said. "When he chose to flee the scene, he put the community's lives at risk."
The suspect took police on about a seven-minute, two-and-half-mile chase, with many opportunities for an innocent person to become a victim.
Some cars parked along the side of the streets were damaged. Fortunately, no one was injured.
The driver is currently in jail for investigation for eluding police, DUI, hit-and-run and reckless driving.