A Vancouver woman allegedly told police that her heroin addiction drove her to rob a shopper Sunday at Westfield Vancouver mall, lead police on a chase and create a five-hour standoff, according to Clark County Superior Court documents.
Crystal Lynn Schweizerhoff, 27, was held Tuesday by Judge David Gregerson on $200,000 bail. She faces charges of first-degree robbery, two counts of attempting to elude police and felony hit-and-run injury at her Sept. 13 arraignment. Vancouver attorney Christie Emrich was appointed to defend her.
The allegations, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court: Schweizerhoff snatched the purse of a female shopper around 6:30 p.m. in the south parking lot at the mall as the victim returned to her vehicle from Sears. The victim pulled the purse away and threw it in her vehicle. Schweizerhoff then told the victim that she had a gun and would shoot her if she didn’t give up her purse. The victim surrendered the purse and observed as Schweizerhoff fled in a red Nissan SUV. She jotted down the SUV’s license plate number and reported it to authorities.
Responding Vancouver police officers located the SUV near Northeast Vancouver Mall Drive and Andresen Road, but the driver allegedly saw them and fled. The officers lost sight of the SUV near Northeast Andresen Road and 63rd Street. Clark County sheriff’s deputies spotted the SUV again near Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue and 108th Street, where the driver made a U-turn and crashed head-on with sheriff’s Deputy Albin Boyse. Boyse was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries.
