By Tim Clifford
On June 3 the 17-year-old suspect who was shot in the head by a King County Sheriff’s Deputy was released from Harborview Medical Center and booked into a Youth Service Center. The teenager car theft suspect is currently facing charges of 1st Degree Assault, Attempted to Allude Police, and two counts of 1st Degree Malicious Mischief.
A Decline hearing to determine if the suspect will be charged as a minor or an adult is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on June 15 in Juvenile Court. While the Highline Times does currently have the name of the suspect since he is a minor we will not publish it pending the results of his Decline hearing.
On May 28 the suspect was spotted at 8:10 p.m. driving along S. 216 Street in SeaTac in a white 1996 Lexus that had earlier been reported stolen out of Federal Way. KCSO deputies Josh Fowler and E. Hall (first name unknown at this time) teamed up in two different patrol vehicles to pull the suspect over.
Initially the suspect pulled to the side of the road then sped off with a short car pursuit ensuing and ending in the dead end of an apartment complex on S. 208th. Using their patrol vehicles the deputies blocked the suspect in and exited their cars with their guns drawn.
At that point the suspect put threw his car into reverse and rammed one of the patrol cars which then pinned Deputy Hall between the two patrol vehicles. Fearing for his partner’s life Deputy Fowler then fired two shots into the suspect’s car hitting him once in the head.
Both deputies rushed to the suspect’s car and attempted to administer first-aid until medics arrived. The suspect was taken to Harborview with non-life threatening injuries. Neither deputy was injured in the incident.
Fowler is a 41-year-old deputy who has been with the department for 11 years. He is currently on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation into the shooting. The investigation is expected to take a little over a month to complete.
It has been reported that the suspect has an extensive juvenile criminal record that includes car prowling, malicious mischief, and theft. According to the prosecutor’s office it is likely that the June 15 date will be continued to a later date.
