VIDEO: Dramatic arrest of WA mother carrying toddler, stolen gun
Deputies arrest WA mother with toddler in backseat
A pursuit in Pierce County, Washington ended in dramatic fashion after a mother was arrested with her toddler in hand.
PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - A pursuit in south Pierce County came to a dramatic end when a mother armed with a stolen gun was arrested with her toddler in-hand.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office captured the emotional encounter on dashcams and body cams.
The sheriff’s office said the 33-year-old woman was a repeat offender and considered a danger to the community. She had several felony charges, including possession of two stolen guns and a stolen car. Deputies had been looking for the woman for quite some time.
Timeline:
The tense situation started on April 30 as a routine traffic stop. The woman was in the front passenger seat of the car with the driver, while her toddler and a puppy were in the back seat.
Detectives said when deputies approached the passenger side of the car, they recognized the woman right away. The mother told deputies they had the wrong person, and she even gave them a fake name. Officials said she repeatedly denied the deputies’ commands to get out of the car.
The situation quickly escalated.
What they're saying:
"She actually pushes the driver out of the vehicle, crawls over the center console and takes over the vehicle," said Deputy Carly Cappetto, public information officer for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Once the mother sped away from the traffic stop, deputies launched a pursuit along Golden Given Road.
Deputies caught up to the car and conducted a PIT maneuver. During the PIT, deputies noticed movement in the back seat and realized a child was sitting back there. Deputies stopped the maneuver immediately, and officials said that’s when the mother took off again.
"Putting a child at risk like that was very scary. And even law enforcement, we are going to back away from that for the safety of that child," said Cappetto.
It wasn’t until later that night when officials said the empty getaway car was found crashed in a retention pond. Deputies started searching for the woman with the help of a K-9 Unit. They soon found her hiding in the woods, armed with a stolen gun and her terrified little boy in hand.
"The video, it was very emotional. As a mother myself, to watch the officers try to apprehend her with this child and the child was crying and obviously traumatized by this experience, and the officers trying to take that child and calm them down. How do you recover from something like that? How do you mentally recover from something like that when your parent puts you through something so traumatic?" said Cappetto.
The public information officer said the mother was arrested on the scene. Officials said family members showed up to the scene to take the little boy to safety.
On top of the current felony charges for the stolen guns and stolen car, investigators said the woman also faces charges of kidnapping in the first degree, possession of a stolen gun, felony eluding, and animal cruelty for the dog in the car.
The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle reporter Franque Thompson.
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