'Carjacker' climbs tree to avoid cops after 'crashing motorcycle and stealing a vehicle' but is finally arrested after climbing down following 3-hr standoff
A 32-year-old alleged carjacker forged a dangerous and destructive path around Bothell, Washington before ending up in a tree for three hours.
The incident Wednesday morning began when police clocked the unidentified man riding a motorcycle at 114mph around 10.25am. Soon after, the speedster crashed the motorcycle into a barrier on Interstate 405.
From there, the suspect fled the crashed motorcycle and made his way to a hotel parking lot nearby, where he stole a new, white vehicle, police said.
KOMO News reports a witness fired a round of gunfire at the vehicle as the suspect was fleeing the parking lot, hitting and flattening one of the tires.
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A 32-year-old man was rescued from a tree he climbed to avoid police capture
The man climbed about 60ft high on a tree in Bothell, Washington, where he stayed for hours
A police chase toward Mill Creek followed, though the cops were eventually forced to end the pursuit due to the dangerous driving of the suspect.
'I’m shaking, literally shaking,' witness Kristin Ibershof told KOMO News after the high-speed chase. 'Someone could have been killed. This could have been tragic.'
At some point, the suspect abandoned this vehicle and decided to climb up a tree in order to evade police capture. KIRO 7 reports he climbed about 60 feet high.
The tree climbing occurred after the suspect fled a vehicle he allegedly carjacked from a parking lot
Earlier, the suspect also crashed a motorcycle, which may have caused a leg injury
The suspect spent three hours in the tree before a crisis negotiator was finally able to talk him down on to a fire truck ladder.
After being taken into custody, the suspect was transported to the hospital due to a leg injury, which may have been suffered during the initial motorcycle crash.
Police captain Mike Johnson reportedly stated it had been at least 28 years since the last time he could remember a suspect hiding in a tree.
'It’s a bummer things had to happen to come to this point for this guy, you know?' witness Michael Blackstone told KIRO 7. 'I’m sure it’s also super humiliating to be stuck in a tree.'