BELLEVUE - Are they heroes? Or should they be punished?
That's the question police are asking themselves about a few citizens who took the law into their own hands trying to stop a high-speed chase along the Eastside Tuesday evening.
Police say the man behind the wheel of the car they were chasing, 24-year-old Ryan Wade-Everett, has a long criminal history. And now, Wade-Everett is in the King County Jail, where he faces a long list of new charges.
But so might a few civilians who tried to ram the suspect's car on their own.
Police say Wade-Everett threaded his way through rush hour traffic; at times losing control, even sideswiping a red SUV. He then crashed through a chain link fence and raced across Kenmore's Wayne Golf Course.
Eventually he winds back toward Kirkland.
A.J. Brammer had tuned into the chase on his car radio.
"My light turns green, and I see him," he said.
Near 116th, Brammer spots the suspect. In a dramatic moment some call heroic and others call misguided, Brammer rams the stolen car with his SUV.
"I'm thinking, 'This is my neighborhood, this is the street I cross with my girls and he just blew right through that intersection not even looking,' " Brammer said.
Bellevue Police spokesman Michael Chiu thought at first blush, that driver was a police officer.
"You know my first impressions when I saw that was, 'Oh, that must be an unmarked police vehicle.' " Chiu said.
Chiu said he appreciates Brammer's zeal, but says he put the public and himself at risk.
"If you crash into him, knock him out of service, guess what? You're vehicle is the next closest one," Chiu said. "And if he's that desperate, he's going to come after you. And if he's armed, you may get a gun in your face or maybe worse."
The chase got so dangerous that Bellevue police called off their pursuit. Kirkland police backed off several times.
Police say Brammer and a pickup truck driver who also rammed the suspect are now under investigation too -- and could face possible charges that might include assault. But what will likely happen is that police will forward some recommendations to the prosecutor's office, who will make the final ruling.
But we're hearing there is considerable debate within the police ranks over what should be done about Brammer -- is he a hero? Or should he be punished for potentially making the situation more dangerous?
Either way, Brammer's not sorry.
"I think I did the right thing. I really do," he said. "I come from L.A., where this happens every day. People are maimed and killed because these people don't care and I had a clear opening."
As for Wade-Everett, he will make his first court appearance Thursday to face a myriad of charges, but police say it make take as much as two weeks to figure out all the laws he might have broken.
http://www.komotv.com/stories/39606.htm
That's the question police are asking themselves about a few citizens who took the law into their own hands trying to stop a high-speed chase along the Eastside Tuesday evening.
Police say the man behind the wheel of the car they were chasing, 24-year-old Ryan Wade-Everett, has a long criminal history. And now, Wade-Everett is in the King County Jail, where he faces a long list of new charges.
But so might a few civilians who tried to ram the suspect's car on their own.
Police say Wade-Everett threaded his way through rush hour traffic; at times losing control, even sideswiping a red SUV. He then crashed through a chain link fence and raced across Kenmore's Wayne Golf Course.
Eventually he winds back toward Kirkland.
A.J. Brammer had tuned into the chase on his car radio.
"My light turns green, and I see him," he said.
Near 116th, Brammer spots the suspect. In a dramatic moment some call heroic and others call misguided, Brammer rams the stolen car with his SUV.
"I'm thinking, 'This is my neighborhood, this is the street I cross with my girls and he just blew right through that intersection not even looking,' " Brammer said.
Bellevue Police spokesman Michael Chiu thought at first blush, that driver was a police officer.
"You know my first impressions when I saw that was, 'Oh, that must be an unmarked police vehicle.' " Chiu said.
Chiu said he appreciates Brammer's zeal, but says he put the public and himself at risk.
"If you crash into him, knock him out of service, guess what? You're vehicle is the next closest one," Chiu said. "And if he's that desperate, he's going to come after you. And if he's armed, you may get a gun in your face or maybe worse."
The chase got so dangerous that Bellevue police called off their pursuit. Kirkland police backed off several times.
Police say Brammer and a pickup truck driver who also rammed the suspect are now under investigation too -- and could face possible charges that might include assault. But what will likely happen is that police will forward some recommendations to the prosecutor's office, who will make the final ruling.
But we're hearing there is considerable debate within the police ranks over what should be done about Brammer -- is he a hero? Or should he be punished for potentially making the situation more dangerous?
Either way, Brammer's not sorry.
"I think I did the right thing. I really do," he said. "I come from L.A., where this happens every day. People are maimed and killed because these people don't care and I had a clear opening."
As for Wade-Everett, he will make his first court appearance Thursday to face a myriad of charges, but police say it make take as much as two weeks to figure out all the laws he might have broken.
http://www.komotv.com/stories/39606.htm
