Vancouver pair arrested after frantic pursuit from Longview to Woodland

Sheriff’s deputies arrested two Vancouver-area men Thursday after they allegedly tried to steal a vehicle in Longview and led officers on a wild pursuit, at times reaching 100 mph on southbound Interstate 5 through heavy rain and mist before crashing head-on with a woman’s car near the Oak Tree Restaurant in Woodland and fleeing on foot.

“There were times when we couldn’t see the vehicle and times when we relocated them,” said Sgt. Troy Brightbill with the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

Minutes before crashing in Woodland near I-5 and being captured, the suspects had ignored a deputy who ordered them to stop at gunpoint — and tried unsuccessfully to pull a man from his truck, Brightbill said.

The driver, Jeffrey Christie, 25, and passenger, Bob Baumgarten, 52, were jailed on suspicion of possessing a stolen Subaru Legacy; attempting to elude police, a felony; attempted carjacking; and taking a vehicle without permission. More charges may be added, according to a bulletin from the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

The suspects appear to be from the Vancouver area and drug-related evidence also was seized, Brightbill said.

It began about 2:20 p.m. today in Longview, when the suspects allegedly arrived there in a green Subaru that had been stolen earlier Thursday in Vancouver. Attempting to switch cars, the suspects tried to get into another vehicle but a Longview man confronted them and they fled in the Subaru, Brightbill said.

The man who confronted the suspects gave 911 dispatchers a description of the Subaru and its license number.

Police said the Subaru sped away, more than 70 mph through a school zone near Kelso, and headed south on I-5 through heavy rain.

Alerted by a road flagger that the suspects took an exit to Woodland, a deputy spotted them in a parking lot — in another vehicle near the Subaru. The deputy ordered them out of the other vehicle at gunpoint, but they ignored the officer, tried to drive away in the newly stolen car but got stuck in a ditch.

The suspects then jumped back in the Subaru, hitting another car in the process, and drove south on Old Pacific Highway, with police close behind them, Brightbill said.

They continued south as the highway turned into Goerig Street and crashed head on into a woman’s car at Goerig and Atlantic Avenue, along the east side of I-5. A Longview woman who was driving the car the suspects hit was taken to a hospital with a broken finger and arm, neck and other injuries not believed life-threatening, police said.

Jumping out of the disabled Subaru, the suspects tried to pull a man from his truck, but he fought back.

Christie then ran west but was caught and, after being shocked with an electronic Taser, was handcuffed. Officers also captured Baumgarten nearby. The suspects were treated at a hospital, later to be jailed with bail initially set at $150,000 each.

The frantic pursuit from Longview to Woodland came only two days after a Vancouver man allegedly robbed a Longview market, fired shots at a pursuing Longview officer and, after a shootout, committed suicide by shooting himself to death.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.