Harger: A Thurston County man with 97 prior arrests built a custom bong into his dashboard. WA is surprised by none of this

A few weeks ago, I told you about a man in Thurston County who’d been arrested 15 times. Three of those in three months. Burglary. Porch piracy. Burglary again. I asked at the end of that commentary: at what point do we try something different?

I wasn’t expecting an answer this fast.

The Thurston County pursuit that ended with a dashboard bong and 97 prior arrests

When you buy a truck, you’ve got options. Leather seats. Upgraded stereo. Maybe a sunroof. But Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders just found a vehicle modification you’ll never see at a dealership. A custom bong. Built directly into the dashboard of a pickup truck. Designed so the driver could comfortably smoke drugs while cruising down the interstate.

That’s who Sheriff Sanders and his deputies were chasing this week.

The driver and a passenger had just run an organized retail theft spree across Lewis County, using stolen bags from one store to steal from the next. Deputies spotted their truck on I-5, and before the lights even came on, the truck bolted. Two pursuits. Both were terminated because his driving was so reckless that it was dangerous to keep chasing him. He was blowing through intersections at high speed through downtown Olympia and into Lacey.

That’s how innocent people die. A family heading home. A kid crossing the street. We’re handing the wheel to a driver who’s apparently high on meth and fentanyl and has no intention of stopping.

They eventually found the truck abandoned. A K-9 track led Sanders and deputies to both suspects as they walked through a nearby neighborhood. Inside the truck, they found thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise, meth, heroin, fentanyl, and the bong.

97 prior arrests

The driver is a four-time convicted felon with 27 misdemeanor convictions. And as of this week, 97 prior arrests.

I was outraged about 15. Now this guy has 98.

Chance No. 2 is compassion. Chance No. 98 is a justice system that’s completely surrendered. These repeat offenders know exactly how it works. They know the odds of staying in jail are practically zero. So they get comfortable. So comfortable, they literally install drug paraphernalia into their dashboards.

As of Tuesday, he’s back in Thurston County jail on DUI, eluding, and drug possession charges. Once he’s out of Thurston County, he’ll face organized retail theft charges in Lewis County once he’s out, because he will be out. That’s how this works.

WA is the third-worst in the nation for property crime. This is why

Washington ranks third-worst in the nation for property crime. We’ve got career criminals with nearly 100 arrests still running organized retail theft rings across Lewis and Thurston counties, still fleeing police through residential neighborhoods in Olympia and Lacey, still driving around with custom drug setups in their trucks because the consequences have never been serious enough to change the math.

Sheriff Sanders posts about this on Facebook because, at some point, you just need someone to bear witness to how absurd this has become. His deputies are doing their jobs. They chase them. They catch them. They book them.

And then we let them go.

He built a drug pipe into his dashboard. Not because he’s stupid. Because he’s learned. 98 arrests will teach you exactly how seriously this state takes your behavior. He’s done the math. He’s seen the consequences. He looked at it all and decided the risk was low enough to install a custom bong in his truck for convenience.

98 arrests and counting. At some point, that’s not on him.

That’s on us.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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