A Vancouver man allegedly attempting to flee a state trooper accidentally disabled his pickup on an Interstate 5 offramp, where he was captured Thursday evening.
Shortly before 5 p.m, a Washington State Patrol trooper tried to pull over a vehicle with tabs that expired in 2013 near the exit to East 39th Street on the southbound freeway. The trooper turned on his patrol car’s emergency lights to initiate the traffic stop, but the vehicle did not yield, according to Trooper Will Finn. Instead, the vehicle sped up, “actively fleeing” the trooper, Finn said.
The driver took the exit to East 39th Street and tried to pass another vehicle on the left but lost control of the pickup on the rain-slicked roadway, Finn said. The pickup hit a curb, which ruptured the front tire and disabled the pickup along the U-shaped exit, Finn said.
The trooper called for backup, got out of his patrol car with his gun drawn and approached the pickup, Finn said. The offramp was temporarily shut down, and other police officers arrived.
According to Finn, the driver, Adam Sheppard, 28, of Vancouver had a revoked driver’s license and was carrying “felony amounts of drugs.” He was arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail.
