Donald W. Myers Yakima Herald Republic
Yakima Herald Republic
YAKIMA – A gang member accused of stealing a car containing teenagers and children was unable to appear in court due to illness.
The 30-year-old Yakima County man was originally scheduled to appear in Yakima County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon, but illness prevented him from attending that hearing and subsequent Wednesday and Thursday hearings, court officials said. said.
He is accused of holding a Door Dash driver’s car at gunpoint around 8:40 p.m. Monday and driving out of the East Chestnut Avenue Walmart with the driver’s 17-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. It has been. He’s also a suspect in a robbery at a hardware store on South First Street, with a high-speed chase hours later.
A DoorDash driver rushed to the store to pick up a delivery, but got a call from his daughter saying a man was driving by, according to a Yakima police affidavit.
According to the affidavit, he found the children in Thurg Hubbard Park shortly afterwards. The girl told police a man got into the driver’s seat, pointed a gun at her and told her not to scream.
According to a YPD affidavit, the man dropped the children off at Block 300 on Chalmers Street and the children returned to Walmart to look for their father.
Four hours later, police went to Morton’s Supply at 1724 S. First St. on suspicion of robbery. Security cameras showed the two men smashing the glass in the front of the store around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, grabbing bolts worth more than $1,500 and walking away with his cutters, swearing. the affidavit said.
While police were investigating the robbery, YPD’s camera system located the Door Dash driver’s vehicle in the South 18th Street and East Meade Avenue area, the affidavit said. According to a Union Gap Police affidavit, when Union Gap officers tried to stop it, the car slowed and gave the officer a high speed chase at nearly 80 mph.
Officers lost track of the vehicle, but found an empty vehicle near the intersection of East Thorton and Bwalda lanes, according to a Union Gap affidavit. I found someone in a nearby robbery.
According to the affidavit, the suspect’s attire matched what the robbers were seen on video during the break-in at Morton’s.
Judge Richard Berthold made the first finding Tuesday that police had good reason to arrest a man on suspicion of first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery and fleeing police. set to According to court records, the man is a documented street gang member.
The second suspect, a 28-year-old man from Granger, Washington, was released under pretrial supervision at his trial on Tuesday after being incarcerated on charges of unauthorized motor vehicle hijacking and second-degree robbery. I was.
