South Sound News

He gave a man a ride, fled police, crashed, then fled a Puyallup hospital naked, charges say

PUYALLUP, Wash. — A 33-year-old accused of leading police on a high-speed chase and later fleeing a Puyallup hospital in the nude has been charged.

He pleaded not guilty at arraignment Tuesday to attempting to elude police, drug possession, driving with a suspended license, hit-and-run and second-degree burglary.

Charging papers give this account:

An Edgewood police officer saw a silver Honda Accord with a shattered windshield and a missing license plate about 1 a.m. Monday at West Valley Highway and Jovita Boulevard East.

The officer tried to stop the car, and the Honda took off on southbound state Route 167, reaching about 110 miles per hour.

The driver swerved between lanes, turned off the headlights and at times hit the brakes.

Ultimately he ran over a spike strip and crashed into trees in the 1700 block of 100th Avenue Court East.

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​Investigators saw that there was a passenger in the car and that the driver took off on foot.

The passenger said that he’d been at a hotel,and needed a ride to his truck. The receptionist asked another man, who agreed.

The two men left the hotel in the Honda, and at some point the passenger got scared and asked to be let out.

Instead, the driver told him to “shut up.”

Investigators found the driver lying on the ground by a fence near the wreck. He appeared to be having a seizure and had a paper towel with methamphetamine rolled inside.

They took him to Good Samaritan Hospital, where a doctor said he’d need to stay all day.

Instead, later that day he fled the hospital in the nude.

Police found him inside the garage of a nearby home.

The owners said they hadn’t given anyone permission to be there.

Records showed the Honda was reported stolen from Seattle.

Click here to read the story on The News Tribune