Suspected shoplifter fleeing police dies in head-on crash, 3 others seriously injured

(Photo: King County Sheriff's Office)



BLACK DIAMOND, Wash. -- A suspected shoplifter fleeing a sheriff's deputy crashed head-on into a pickup truck near Black Diamond Monday night, resulting in the suspect's death and serious injuries to two passengers in his car and a passenger in the pickup, the sheriff's office said.

The King County Sheriff's Office said the incident began about 6 p.m., when there was a theft from a store in Covington and the suspect's vehicle description was broadcast over the police scanner. A deputy spotted the vehicle and tried to stop the car, but the driver refused to stop and fled.



After a brief pursuit, the deputy lost track of the suspect's car, but when the deputy rounded a corner, she saw the fleeing vehicle had collided head-on with a pickup truck in the 32800 block of SE Auburn Black Diamond Road, the sheriff's office said.

The driver of the car died at the scene, the sheriff's office said. Two passengers in the suspect's car and a passenger in the pickup were both seriously injured and transported to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.

"A pretty minimal crime," King County sheriff's detective Jason Stanley said, and that led to one death and three serious injuries.  "It's a terribly tragic incident."

The plates on the suspect's car were stolen, the sheriff's office said.