Auburn police investigate fatal high-speed car chase

Auburn police say officers who chased three suspected car thieves before a fatal crash early Tuesday pursued the suspects because one passenger was seen running from a stolen car.

The high-speed chase killed one passenger, and the driver and another passenger were seriously hurt in the crash on Auburn Way North. Police Chief Jim Kelly says the officers who chased the suspects appear to have followed department policy.

Kent police are investigating the crash at Kelly's request because of the Auburn officers' involvement in the chase that preceded the crash. Auburn police are conducting an administrative review of the chase, common procedure for all police pursuits.

During the review, police officials will determine whether the officers followed the department's policy about when to chase crime suspects. Auburn patrol officers decide whether to chase a suspect and when to end a pursuit if it becomes a safety risk to the public. There is no speed-limit cap.

But officers must consider several safety issues — including the seriousness of the crime and risk to the public — before pursuing a suspect, the department's policy says.

It allows officers the discretion to catch criminals, "which, I think, is what the public wants us to do," Kelly said.

The department's policy is similar to that of departments in Renton and Kent, the King County Sheriff's Office and the Washington State Patrol.

"Bottom line, we try to balance the need to pursue with public safety," Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan said.

The Washington State Patrol doesn't limit the officers' actions, spokesman Jeff Merrill said.

Bellevue and Seattle policies allow pursuits only when suspects are considered a larger threat to the public.

Bellevue police "err on the side of caution" by engaging in chases only when they involve suspects in dangerous felonies, officer Greg Grannis said.

Seattle police would not discuss their pursuit policy, but the department's Web site says its officers pursue only when the need to capture the suspect outweighs the danger of the pursuit.

Auburn officers began chasing three people in a Saturn after one of the suspects was seen running from a stolen car in the parking lot of the Auburn Wal-Mart about 12:50 a.m. Tuesday, spokesman Scott Near said. The chase went on for miles, onto Highway 167 and back onto city streets, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph on Auburn Way North, where the driver lost control and crashed the car, Near said.

Names of the passenger who died and of the driver, a 20-year-old Spanaway woman, and the second passenger, a 36-year-old Federal Way man, were not released Tuesday. The survivors were taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious injuries.

Staff reporter Rachel Fields contributed to this report.

Lauren Vane: 253-234-8604 or lvane@seattletimes.com