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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Police Toss Pepper Spray, Break In To End Standoff

Associated Press

A man who eluded a traffic stop, fought with a police officer, then holed up in a house and fired shots out a window was arrested after a five-hour standoff with King County police.

Police shot cans of pepper spray into the house at about 7:45 p.m. Friday, then entered to find the 40-year-old man had barricaded himself in a back bedroom.

The man had claimed to have explosives but police found no sign of that, police spokeswoman Joanne Elledge said.

Police did find drug paraphernalia inside the home and the car the man was driving when police initially stopped him.

The man, who was not identified, was arrested for investigation of assault of an officer and eluding police, Elledge said. He could later face charges of reckless endangerment, she added.

A police officer received cuts on his left wrist when he broke a window to the home to toss in the pepper gas. He was treated at Valley Medical Center in Renton, Elledge said.

After police stopped him for driving erratically, the man fought with an officer, then drove to his girlfriend’s house in the Fairwood-Renton area of south King County and barricaded himself inside.

Nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.

The man’s girlfriend was inside the house for part of the standoff before she came out of her own accord, Elledge said.

The girlfriend was arrested for rendering criminal assistance after telling police that her boyfriend was no longer in the house, Elledge said.

The man has an extensive criminal record and police have been called to the house on numerous occasions for a variety of reasons, Elledge said.