Officers arrested a man they say drove away from them multiple times Wednesday night before crashing a reportedly stolen car and leading them on a foot chase in Orchards.
Shortly after 11 p.m., Clark County sheriff’s deputies and Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue personnel responded to the 10300 block of Northeast 52nd Court for a report of a man slumped over in the driver’s seat of an unlicensed Ford Fusion.
When a fire engine approached, the Ford sped away. Firefighters said they saw the man driving erratically, and they spotted the car again at a gas station near Northeast 72nd Avenue and 119th Street, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
A deputy saw the Ford driving east on 119th Street and tried to stop the driver. The sheriff’s office said the suspect recklessly drove away from the deputy, and the deputy did not pursue him.
Another deputy saw the car a few minutes later and tried to stop the driver a second time near Northeast 99th Street and 117th Avenue. The driver sped away again, the news release states.
As the driver fled, he failed to negotiate a curve at Northeast 126th Avenue and 95th Street. He crashed the Ford into a large utility box, according to the sheriff’s office.
The driver ran from the car into a commercial complex in the 9600 block of Northeast 126th Avenue. After deputies, Vancouver police officers and several small drones searched for about an hour, they located the man hiding between a fence and a row of arborvitae, the news release states.
Investigators arrested the man, and he was taken to an area hospital to be treated for minor injuries he suffered in the crash. They have not yet been able to identify the man, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies learned the Ford was reported stolen out of Portland a few days prior. They saw evidence of drug use inside the car, and deputies seized the car as evidence pending further investigation, according to the news release.
