MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Man flees cops with monkey on his back – literally

May 4, 2016, 1:45 PM | Updated: 3:48 pm

monkey, crime, cops, police, driving, speeding...

Burien police took this photograph of the suspect with a monkey on his back who was along for the ride when he crashed his speeding car. (Burien Police)

(Burien Police)

Burien police arrested a man for monkeying around on the road, but in a little more unique way than your usual reckless driver.

A state trooper clocked the 31-year-old man at 112 mph traveling on SR 509 and soon lost sight of the speeding car.

The driver then left the highway at exit 128, lost control of the vehicle, and crashed into a large rock in the front yard of a nearby home. The man exited his vehicle but didn’t get far before he remembered he left someone in his car. Witnesses to the crash were already on the phone with 911 reporting what they were seeing.

“They said a man jumped out of the car after hitting a large rock, but then he went back to his car for something. It turned out he went back to his car for his pet monkey,” said Captain Bryan Howard with the Burien Police Department.

Then, with a monkey on his back, the driver ran from the scene. Technically, it was a marmoset.

“He was reported running into the neighborhood with a monkey on his back,” Howard said. “It didn’t take long for officers to find him — he kind of stood out.”

Officers found the man a short distance away, with his partner in crime. He was cited and arrested for his monkey business. Howard reports that the man was not cooperative with officers. And neither was his monkey.

“The monkey didn’t want to let go of him,” Howard said. “It was only when the person’s mother got there that the monkey allowed her to handle him.”

With the woman’s help, the man was able to get the monkey off his back, and it went home with her. Howard notes that the monkey did not appear to be injured in the crash.

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Man flees cops with monkey on his back – literally