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Two men arrested after stolen vehicle chase, carjacking; second chase ends in floodwaters

KING COUNTY, Wash. — Two men are in jail after a chase ended with a stolen vehicle and a suspect driving into the flooded Snoqualmie River on Wednesday.

Issaquah Police Chief Paula Schwan said the chaos started when police spotted a stolen vehicle with two people inside.

She said when officers tried to pull the men over, they sped off and headed to Bellevue.

Police said the men bailed from the stolen vehicle in Bellevue.

“Got two subjects. One is wearing a dark kind of hoodie. The other is wearing like a blue, a light-blue hoodie,” said a law enforcement officer from the King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Guardian One.

One man was caught and handcuffed while the other man continued to flee.

“They’re trying to carjack somebody. They got an officer right behind them right now.”

Police said the second suspect then carjacked a vehicle right in front of officers.

“The suspect took the vehicle that they were stealing and rammed into the sergeants’ SUV in an attempt to get away from all the activity,” Schwan said.

Video captured the sergeant trapped behind the opened vehicle door before the second suspect sped off to Fall City, where he drove into water.

“He’s about to run into a bunch of water,” law enforcement said from Guardian One.

The man drove past a “road closed” sign and headed right into the flooded Snoqualmie River, got out of the vehicle, and turned himself in.

“Looks like he’s got his hands up,” law enforcement said.

Hours later, crews pulled the vehicle out of the floodwaters.

“Everybody was taken into custody without great injury, and there was minor injuries, yes but fortunately there weren’t any grave injuries, so this was a huge success,” said Schwan.

Both suspects were booked into jail and are expected to appear in court on Thursday morning.