VIDEO: Pierce County deputies use airplane to track fleeing driver who tried hiding in backyard pool
Aug 20, 2026, 6:43 PM
A Pierce County pursuit that started with an unregistered license plate ended with a 37-year-old man being pulled, soaking wet, from a backyard swimming pool in Parkland, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO). A video of the pursuit can be seen above.
PCSO Deputy Carly Cappetto said the incident began around 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 during an auto theft task force emphasis operation.
A deputy spotted a vehicle with no registration tabs and an unregistered license plate, a common red flag for potentially stolen cars. When the deputy tried to pull the driver over, the vehicle sped off.
“The vehicle flees from the traffic stop at a high rate of speed and goes into oncoming traffic,” Cappetto said. “What makes this pursuit really unique and interesting is the fact that we were able to back away from it and actually remove ourselves from the pursuit to eliminate any risk to the public.”
Pierce County suspect jumps rooftops as state patrol airplane tracks from above
Rather than continue a high-speed pursuit through traffic, deputies disengaged and called in air support. The Washington State Patrol airplane, known as “Smokey,” picked up the fleeing vehicle from above and began tracking it at a safe distance, relaying real-time updates to deputies on the ground.
The vehicle eventually came to a stop in the Parkland area off Pacific Avenue, where both the male driver and a female passenger ran from the car. From the air, Smokey’s camera captured the driver racing through yards, then scrambling across multiple rooftops as he tried to get away.
“You see him crawling and jumping roof to roof over approximately three to four different structures,” Cappetto said. “He finally ends up in someone’s backyard that has a trampoline and a pool, and he decides that hiding inside the pool full of water would be the best resort for him and the best outcome for him to get away from this situation he was in.”
Suspect hides in pool, doesn’t realize airplane is watching
What the suspect didn’t realize, Cappetto said, was that the airplane’s camera was recording everything and guiding deputies directly to him. As he hid in the backyard pool, deputies surrounded the area and treated the situation as a potential armed standoff.
For about 20 minutes, officers held their positions while they worked to determine whether the suspect was armed.
“Obviously, not knowing if this subject is armed or not. Does he have firearms? Is he going to come out of the pool with firearms ablaze? We don’t know,” Cappetto explained.
Special forces and K-9 units were called in and eventually moved in on the suspect, who was still in the water. Deputies then pulled him from the pool and took him into custody.
RELATED STORIES
Car wasn’t stolen, but suspect’s record tells a different story
Cappetto said the car the man was driving was ultimately found not to be stolen, but it was unregistered and “had a lot going on with it.” The suspect is facing multiple serious charges.
The 37-year-old is being booked on felony eluding, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and driving with a first-degree suspended license.
Cappetto noted that a first-degree suspension is rare and indicates a significant history of violations.
“There’s a lot of things you have to do to get to a suspended first-degree, and we don’t come across them very often,” she said. “So that’s pretty significant, when your license is suspended at that level.”
Cappetto called the case an eye-opening example of the lengths some suspects will go to in order to avoid arrest and a success story in multi-agency coordination that allowed deputies to step back from a risky ground pursuit while still safely making an arrest.
Follow James Lynch on X. Read more of his stories here. Submit news tips here.
