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Suspect in high-speed chase in Key Peninsula pleads not guilty
A 9-time felon accused of leading Pierce County deputies on a pursuit in Key Peninsula pleaded not guilty to his charges on Monday.
KEY PENINSULA, Wash. - A nine-time convicted felon accused of leading Pierce County Sheriff's deputies on a high-speed pursuit pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.
Prosecutors charged 28-year-old Preston Weirman with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.
The backstory:
On Sept. 25, 2026, around 10:45 p.m., a Key Peninsula deputy spotted a black pickup truck with no license plates that matched the description of a truck reportedly involved in three other recent thefts in the area.
An attempted traffic stop led to a very short high-speed pursuit.
The truck traveled southbound on Purdy Drive Northwest at a high rate of speed for a short distance before it lost control, taking out two power poles and crashing in the 15300 block of Goodrich Drive Northwest.
Deputies say Wierman was compliant and taken into custody for eluding. He was medically cleared by firefighters and later booked into the Pierce County Jail.
Court documents show he suffered five fractured ribs.
He claimed he was not involved in any thefts in the Canterwood or Key Peninsula areas and that others had used the truck in the last week.
The pickup truck was taken for a search warrant, due to deputies observing stolen mail and several other items inside the truck that matched listed stolen items from previous calls. Wierman told deputies he ran because he didn't have a license plate on the truck and had not registered it. He said he paid for the truck with cash and the bill of sale was at a friend's house.
Preston Weirman in Pierce County court
What's next:
Additional charges will be added based on the results of the search warrant.
Weirman is being held on $25,000 bail, which is what prosecutors recommended.
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The Source: Information in this story came from the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, court documents filed in Pierce County Superior Court, and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.