Man in stolen SUV drives wrong way, carjacks truck, rams Bellevue Police SUV

BELLEVUE, Wash. — A man found sleeping in a stolen SUV went on a crime spree that included ramming a Bellevue Police vehicle and driving the wrong way on the freeway Wednesday morning, according to Bellevue Police.

Shortly before 4 a.m., a patrolling Bellevue officer checked the license plate of a maroon Chevrolet Tahoe in a parking lot on Northeast 20th Street at 148th Avenue. It had been reported stolen.

Because a man was sleeping inside the SUV, more officers were called to the lot, and spike strips were put under the SUV’s tires as the man slept.

When officers woke the suspect, he drove off, puncturing three of the SUV’s tires in the process.

As he fled, he drove the wrong way on 148th Avenue Northeast and then got onto eastbound State Route 520 going the wrong way.

Because of the high danger from a wrong-way driver, officers did not follow the SUV.

Police said that shortly after, the suspect attacked a construction worker at a site on eastbound SR 520 and stole a flatbed construction truck, which he used to ram a Bellevue Police patrol SUV.

The officer in the rammed SUV had minor injuries and was treated and released from Overlake Hospital.

At that point, under Washington law, police were able to chase the suspect east on SR 520 into Redmond, where the man again started driving on the wrong side of the road.

Once again, because of the danger involved, police ended the chase.

The stolen construction truck was later found in Redmond. Police used a drone and a K-9 unit to search for the man, but he was not found.

Police are working to identify the suspect.

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