A stolen black pickup truck appears to have been chased by police from Richmond to the U.S. border on Thursday afternoon with the driver finally arrested in Skagit County after a pursuit along the Interstate 5.
According to Richmond resident Bob Garnett, who happened to be travelling behind the truck on the highway, Richmond RCMP tried to pull the truck over as it sped through the George Massey Tunnel, but it managed to evade them.
The truck continued travelling in an “erratic” manner along the highway, at times slowing down and then speeding up, Garnett explained.
RCMP were then joined by seven other police cars in the chase, which continued to the U.S.-Canada border.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the truck, being pursued by Canadian authorities, reached the Peace Arch border crossing "at a high rate of speed" and failed to yield to border officers.
The truck continued through the border and hit another vehicle, U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the Richmond News.
"The driver then drove the vehicle into the port of entry’s secondary inspection lot, again failing to yield to commands to stop," explained U.S. Customs. "The driver made a U-turn, exited the secondary lot and drove across the grass median and eventually ended up heading southbound on Interstate 5."
At around 1:30 p.m., Washington State Troopers were told of a carjacking at the Blaine border crossing, according to a post on X by Washington State Trooper Kelsey Harding.
She added a Customs and Border Patrol officer was almost struck.
Customs and Border Patrol officers then pursued the vehicle southbound along Interstate 5 toward Bellingham.
Washington State Troopers saw the vehicle allegedly failing to yield for the marked Customs and Border Patrol units as it entered Bellingham, Harding explained in her post.
"CBP air assets were deployed and assisted with the pursuit," she explained. "Troopers observed reckless driving behavior and took over the pursuit for the crime of felony eluding."
Stop sticks were used to end the pursuit, but this wasn't successful.
"Troopers observed problems maintaining lane position as well as varying speed as the pursuit entered into Skagit County," the post continued, adding troopers then deployed stop sticks near the Bow Hill Rest Area.
A precision immobilization technique (PIT) manoeuver was eventually used to stop the vehicle, with assistance from the Whatcom County Sheriff's office and the Customs Border Patrol, Harding continued.
The driver was taken into custody and troopers allegedly recovered a machete. The vehicle with B.C. licence plates was identified as stolen.
Richmond RCMP confirmed this incident was related to an alleged robbery where a vehicle was stolen.
The victim didn’t sustain any physical injuries and the investigation is on-going, according to Richmond RCMP.
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