Woman causes deputy’s gun to fire during traffic stop, police say

A Vancouver woman who was stopped for erratic driving in Hazel Dell on Monday morning allegedly reached for a deputy’s gun, causing the weapon to fire, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Several people called 911 at about 9:30 a.m. to report a light blue Acura coupe driving erratically on Northeast Hazel Dell Avenue, according to the sheriff’s office.

The car reportedly drove through red lights, weaved in and out of traffic, collided with several vehicles and kept on going, deputies said.

Deputies spotted the car in the area of Highway 99 and Northeast 99th Street and stopped the car by boxing it in with two patrol vehicles in the 1200 block of Northeast 99th Street just east of the Interstate 5 overpass, the sheriff’s office said.

As deputies tried to remove the driver from the car, she was uncooperative and made a grab for a deputy’s handgun, causing the gun to fire while it was still in the holster, the sheriff’s office said. No one was injured in the incident.

The driver, 33-year-old Jessica Farias, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault, three counts of disarming an officer, felony hit-and-run, and resisting arrest. She was booked into the Clark County Jail.

Detectives with the sheriff’s office Major Crimes Unit are investigating. Traffic onto I-5 was restricted in the area during the investigation.

The sheriff’s office did not release the name of the deputy involved in the incident.