Deputy breaks off chase in Renton, speeding car crashes anyway

Residents of a Renton apartment complex near I-405 probably heard a racket early Tuesday morning followed by police sirens. It was the sound of a car crashing through a fence and hurtling into a ravine.

The driver was speeding away from a sheriff’s deputy, who spotted what he thought was suspicious activity a few miles away at S.E. 190th and 148th Ave S.E. at about 2:15 a.m.

“It was in an area that we’ve had a lot of recent vehicle prowls and so when he went to try to make contact with the vehicle, it fled from him,” said King County Sheriff’s spokeswoman D.B. Gates. The deputy chased for a short distance then broke it off. It’s possible the driver of the car didn’t know that, said Gates. He continued speeding away for a few miles before he smashed through a gate at an apartment complex in the 1300 block of Eagle Ridge Drive South.

“The car crashed over the ravine and, I believe, overturned,” said Gates. “Three people inside. All of them tried to flee. One of them was caught right away. He was a male with warrants out for his arrest,” said Gates.

The sheriff called in a search dog, but the other two people in the car got away.