Kent officer shoots fleeing bicyclist with Taser | Police Blotter

A Kent Police officer shot a fleeing bicyclist with a Taser dart after the man refused to stop during a pursuit.

The officer arrested the man for investigation of obstructing an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia after spotting two bicyclists riding without helmets at about 7 p.m. April 26 along 104th Avenue Southeast near Southeast 240th Street, according to the police report. City law requires bicyclists to wear helmets.

The officer pulled his patrol vehicle into a parking lot to stop the two bicyclists for not wearing helmets. One of the bicyclists stopped, the other one pedaled away.

After a short search, the officer saw the bicyclist who pedaled away near the Chevron at 10715 S.E. 240th St. The officer activated his vehicle’s overhead lights and siren and used the vehicle’s public address system to say:

“You in the white shirt on the bicycle, stop police!”

The bicyclist looked back at the officer but then started pedaling faster, riding southbound on 108th Avenue Southeast toward a footpath at the end of a raod. The officer exited his vehicle at the muddy path and started to chase the man on the bike.

The officer again yelled at the man to stop but the bicyclist kept going. The officer then pulled out his Taser and shot the man with a dart. The man fell off the bike. Police ordered the man to stay on the ground. A second officer arrived and the two handcuffed the man.

The man told police he kept riding because he feared cops after police had used excessive force against him during a previous incident.

Police transported the man to the city jail. Officers searched his backpack and found a syringe as well as a glass smoking pipe, which the officer noted often is used to smoke meth or crack cocaine.

Officers did not re-contact the first bicyclist.

Assault

Officers arrested a woman for investigation of fourth-degree assault after she reportedly scratched her boyfriend on the face during a dispute at a bus stop at about 6:41 p.m. April 25, near 64th Avenue South and South 240th Street.

A passerby called 911 to report a man who had a woman in a headlock near the bus stop, according to the police report. The two were last seen boarding a Metro Transit bus.

An officer went to the downtown bus transit center on Railroad Avenue and spotted a couple getting off a bus who matched the description from the caller.

Police stopped the couple walking through the transit center and talked to them. The woman admitted to police they had a fight and that she scratched her boyfriend’s face. She said she was upset because he left her at home and went out with friends.

Officers also arrested the boyfriend because he had warrants out of Des Moines for operating a vehicle without an ignition interlock device and failure to appear for a driving while license suspended. The man declined to discuss with police his dispute with his girlfriend.

Officers noted the woman had no cuts, bruises or scratches on her. The witness said she did not see either the man or woman hit each other.

False statement

Police arrested a woman for investigation of giving a false statement after she allegedly made up a name before officers found out her real name at about 1:48 a.m. April 29 in the 3600 block of South 241st Street.

Officers responded to a call of a suspicious pickup parked in an area where vehicle thefts, vehicle prowls and mail theft had occurred, according to the police report.

Police found a woman and a man near the pickup. The woman initially gave a false name to police because she has so many warrants against her. Officers discovered the woman had warrants for theft 2 out of Seattle, failure to appear for driving while license suspended out of Fife and driving while license suspended out of Des Moines.