Vancouver police officers were involved in two pursuits Monday evening, both involving motorcycles that reached estimated speeds of 100 mph. Police eventually caught one suspected driver, and they were still searching for the other driver Tuesday.
An officer spotted a motorcycle with expired tags at Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard and Andresen Road and attempted a traffic stop at about 6:30 p.m., according to Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.
The motorcycle accelerated, however, getting onto the eastbound lanes of state Highway 500, Kapp said. The officer pursued the motorcycle and reported that the motorcycle cut across three lanes of traffic and drove between two vehicles at an estimated 100 mph, Kapp said.
“He was gone within seconds,” Kapp said. The officer ended the pursuit because of the potential danger to the public. That was not the end of the investigation, though.
That officer tracked the license plate to a Vancouver address and went to the residence to find the motorcycle and a man whom the officer recognized as the rider, Kapp said.
Nathaniel A. Patton, 20, of Vancouver was taken into custody on suspicion of attempting to elude, reckless endangerment and driving with a suspended license, according to police.
Earlier in the evening, at about 5 p.m., police attempted to stop another motorcycle at Fort Vancouver Way and East McLoughlin Boulevard, but that rider eluded police, Kapp said.
About three hours later, officers spotted what they believed to be the same person coming out of a store and getting on a motorcycle near East Fourth Plain Boulevard and Neals Lane.
The officer, who recognized the driver as having a suspended license, attempted to pull the motorcycle over but the rider again eluded police by driving at a high rate of speed, Kapp said.
The motorcycle rode through residential neighborhoods in the area and the officer pursued. At one point during the pursuit, the officer attempted to block the motorcycle in on a dead-end road, but the motorcycle drove onto a yard to get away, Kapp said.
The officer eventually ended the traffic stop because of the risk to the public, but police continued searching for the suspect.
Kapp said that even when police end a traffic stop to maintain safety, that doesn’t mean the driver will get away with the crime.
“We don’t necessarily catch them at that time, but it doesn’t mean we don’t continue to investigate,” she said.
