Dad-To-Be Gets A Bit Too Hasty Remembers His Wife, But Forgets To Lock Car

Like generations of expectant fathers before him, Todd Gipson snapped into action when his pregnant wife woke him early Sunday to tell him their twins were ready to be born.

The 25-year-old carpenter rushed outside to warm up the family car, then hurried inside to collect his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

But no father, no matter how expectant, could have expected what happened next.

While he was on his way back out about 3:30 a.m., Gipson saw someone jump into his running car and zoom away.

“I usually warm my car up,” he said. “I had no idea someone would be out there at 4 in the morning.”

His wife almost didn’t believe him.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this can’t be happening,”’ Cathy Pendleton-Gipson, 37, said from her bed at Valley Medical Center in Renton, Wash. “It was just too crazy.” Quick work by the Gipsons and a few helpful neighbors secured the family a ride to the hospital with plenty of time to spare.

Meanwhile, the second part of the bizarre tale was unfolding several miles away in a swampy section of Soos Creek.

Kent police saw the Gipsons’ car about two minutes after Gipson called to report it stolen, but the driver apparently refused to pull over, sparking a chase that ended when the suspect lost control and crashed the car into the creek. The man fled, but was arrested two hours later when a police K-9 unit caught up with him.

The 19-year-old suspect, who was hiding in thick undergrowth, was arrested for investigation of car theft and felony eluding. Police said one of the dogs bit him on the leg.

A few neighbors in the Sunrise Point Apartments said they weren’t surprised by the theft.

Chuck Garrison, who was recruited to drive the couple to the hospital, said he was up late anyway, trying to chase away a teenager who was smoking crack outside his apartment. “It was a weird night,” said Garrison.

The babies, named Chandler and Kennady, were born about 5 p.m.

All were doing well.