Posted in Felonies on August 7, 2014
Austin Sullivan, 17, has been sentenced to two years confinement in a juvenile facility after pleading guilty to charges related to a high-speed chase in which he rammed several police vehicles. The Vancouver teenager accepted a plea deal that lead to one count of second-degree assault being dropped. He pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree assault, theft of a motor vehicle and attempt to elude.
A state trooper caught sight of Sullivan on July 2 driving a Kia Rio at over 110 mph. The vehicle had been pursued by Vancouver police shortly before the trooper saw it going northbound on Interstate 5 near Northeast 78th Street. The trooper caught up to Sullivan south of the Interstate 205 split, and another trooper who had been working a nearby construction zone deployed stop sticks, which flattened all of the Kia’s tires. Sullivan kept driving at about 20 mph in spite of the damaged tires.
A third trooper joined the pursuit and used a driving maneuver to spin the Kia, causing it to stop facing south in northbound lanes. Sullivan drove south and rammed the trooper’s car. The Vancouver police officer who had pursued the Kia arrived at the scene and helped block the right lane to keep Sullivan from fleeing, and Sullivan then rammed his car as well. Sullivan then reversed and struck the car of another trooper that had pulled up behind him. The accused tried once more to pull forward, but was prevented from escaping by the Vancouver police vehicle. No one was injured during the incident.
Sullivan had stolen a different car earlier that day and had been involved in a vehicle theft and pursuit on June 30. At the time of the July 2 incident, Sullivan was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear in court in May for a separate criminal case, in which he had crashed a vehicle into a residential fence while driving under the influence.
Source: The Columbian, “Vancouver teen gets two years for police chase,” Paris Achen, August 4, 2014.
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