SEATTLE — A police pursuit of a suspected armed carjacker on Interstate 5 on Monday afternoon near Tacoma ended with two patrol cars on fire.
Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call shortly after 11 a.m. by a woman who reported her car was stolen at gunpoint inside Orangegate Park. Using a tracking device the woman had in her car, deputies tracked the car to a Federal Way shopping complex. They attempted to stop the driver using tire-deflation devices, but he drove off, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies pursued the car, which lost a tire, onto southbound I-5 until it crashed on the shoulder near the 56th Street exit. The driver ran out of the car, which caught on fire with a passenger still inside.
The Sheriff’s Office said deputies rescued the passenger and apprehended the driver, but the fire ignited dry grass in the area and spread to two patrol cars nearby. No deputies were injured.
The driver and the passenger were taken to the hospital. The driver will be booked into jail when he is medically cleared, the Sheriff’s Office said.
