Not the Way to Get on the Ferry

— from Skagit Valley Herald —

A 28-year-old Pierce County woman is in custody early after police said she led officers on a 14-mile vehicle pursuit Thursday night through city streets and even onto a Washington State ferry docked for refueling.

Anacortes police responded about 11 p.m. Thursday to a 911 call reporting a possible drunken driver on Highway 20 at the bridges near Swinomish Casino & Lodge, according to a police press release. The caller told a dispatcher the car was traveling unsafely and not staying in its lane.

Anacortes police found the car on Commercial Avenue and began pursuing it through residential and business areas.

Officers deployed spike strips and punctured two tires on the vehicle, which continued traveling on its wheel rims.

The chase continued to the Anacortes Ferry Terminal where the car crashed through a barricade and toll booth and onto a ferry refueling at the dock. The car drove over a safety boom, then turned around and drove off the ferry, according to the press release.

Officers used another set of spike strips to puncture a third tire on the car. The pursuit continued with the car still driving on the rims of its punctured tires, which began sparking against the pavement.

Police managed to box in the car at the Cap Sante Lookout. Officers broke a window to take the driver into custody after she refused to get out, police said in the release.

The driver was taken to Island Hospital in Anacortes before being booked into Skagit County Jail on investigation of DUI and attempting to elude.

Police said they are waiting to receive blood test results to determine if drugs were a factor in the pursuit.

Police said no one was hurt.