Sergeant attacked during traffic stop

A State Patrol sergeant was hospitalized early yesterday after he was attacked by two men during a traffic stop near Aberdeen, Grays Harbor County.

The men were eventually arrested after a police chase that ended with one of the men falling about 50 feet from a bridge across the Chehalis River, the Patrol reported.

The episode began about 1 a.m., when Sgt. Eric Hanson stopped a 20-year-old man on Highway 12 for apparent drunken driving, said Trooper Scott Harter, a Patrol spokesman.

While Hanson was testing the driver for sobriety, a passenger in the car, a 21-year-old man, distracted Hanson and the driver knocked him down.

The two men beat Hanson, breaking bones in his face, then got back in their car and drove away, Harter said.

Hanson was able to get up, return to his car and give chase.

The men, who had a 19-year-old woman in the car with them, avoided police spike strips on the highway as they fled into Aberdeen, Harter said.

On Aberdeen's Chehalis River Bridge, the car was stopped by police, but the driver tried to escape by jumping from the bridge in an effort to reach a pedestrian walkway, Harter said.

Instead, the driver fell to the ground below, suffering several broken bones.

The driver and his two passengers were arrested. The two men were held pending charges of felony assault and eluding police, Harter said.

A Grays Harbor County sheriff's deputy was also injured when he fell down while trying to catch the driver before he jumped from the bridge, Harter said.