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Police: ‘Urge’ drove alleged Capitol Hill garbage truck thief

(Image: @scottwegner via Twitter)

(Image: @scottwegner via Twitter)

The 18-year-old E Pine resident arrested after a giant truck was taken on a slow speed joy ride of chaos and destruction across Capitol Hill Tuesday morning told police he “got the urge” to keep driving, according to court documents from the suspect’s Wednesday afternoon bail hearing.

A judge set Mussie Alemu’s bail at $150,000. The teen is currently jailed for investigation of vehicle theft, assault, malicious mischief, and eluding police.

He has not been charged. UPDATE 10/30/2015: Alemu was charged Thursday with theft of a motor vehicle, assault and attempting to elude police. The 18-year-old’s charges also include “a special allegation of endangerment, alleging police officers, pedestrians and motorists were in endangered by the stunt, though no one was hurt,” the Seattle Times reports.

According to the court documents, the driver of the Allied Waste/Republic Services truck told police that a male later identified as Alemu approached him just after 6 AM while he worked in the alley behind the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine, exiting a stairway in the alley, yelling “fuck you,” and lunging at the driver. Believing he was going to be attacked, the driver told police he got back in his truck but then decided to go inside the East Precinct to report the situation, leaving the truck running with the keys in the ignition. When the driver came back outside, he said he saw the suspect drive out of the alley and begin what police say was a 17-minute path of destruction across Capitol Hill, driving “erratically,” and “recklessly,” in “opposing lanes” and running red lights. “Alemu drove the truck as far north as Olive Wy, as far south as E Pike, as far east as 13th Av, and as far west as Melrose,” the police report notes.

As he drove out of the alley, police say the suspect “drove the truck towards marked police vehicles and uniformed Seattle Police Officers” causing the cops to scramble as the truck struck the East Precinct building, doing “a few thousand dollars” damage:

Screen Shot 2015-10-28 at 4.19.22 PM

Police say the wild ride also included what one witness reported appeared to be an intentional attempt to run over the bike share station at Bellevue and Pine. Police say the truck rampage damaged 11 bicycles and 12 “bicycle meters,” doing an estimated $20,000 in damage.

The end of the slow-speed chase came when the rogue truck was traveling in the wrong lane of E Olive Way and collided with an oncoming Cleanscapes truck. The suspect told police he couldn’t stop the truck because the brakes were no longer functioning. During the chase, police reported the smell of burning brakes indicating that the truck’s parking brake remained set as the vehicle traveled the Hill at speeds up to 20 miles per hour.

The police report documents the East Precinct wall, a City of Seattle utility pole, two city trees, and the Pronto bike share station on the roster of destruction from the incident. Additionally, police received multiple reports of damaged cars in the area and Seattle Fire was called to the scene to handle a small fire that broke out on the waste removal truck and to handle a diesel spill from the collision. The truck also required repairs before it could be towed from the scene Tuesday.

There were no reported injuries.

According to the SPD report, Alemu, who lives in an apartment building a few blocks from where the incident began according to court records, told police he wanted to hit the precinct and be arrested but that he did not intend to hit any officers. “After colliding with the East Precinct building, he stated that he did not want to stop because he got the urge to continue driving,” the police report reads.

A drug recognition expert was called to the East Precinct following Tuesday’s arrest but any results are not included in the report from the bail hearing.

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RWK
RWK
8 years ago

It’s very fortunate that no individuals were injured or killed in this bizarre incident. The guy needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and spend time in jail. But no doubt he will blame his behavior on drugs and get off with a slap on the wrist.