‘You couldn’t make this stuff up,’ State Patrol says of pursuit near Bellingham airport
It’s one of the first lessons a young driver should be taught: If a law enforcement vehicle pulls up behind you and flips on its lights, pull over to the shoulder or somewhere out of the flow of traffic as safely and quickly as you can and stop your vehicle.
However, if you decide to defy that rule and put your life and those of everyone around you at risk by attempting to flee in the usually misguided hope that you’re going to get away, it’s probably a good rule of thumb not to drive into the parking lot of the law enforcement agency that is pursuing you.
But that’s exactly how a pursuit ended Thursday afternoon in north Bellingham near the airport.
A 33-year-old female driver and her 39-year-old male passenger were arrested by the Washington State Patrol after they reportedly sped away from troopers on Interstate 5, hit two cars near the Bakerview exit and crashed into a parked unmarked, state-issued pickup of another trooper in the parking lot of the State Patrol Vehicle Inspection building in Bellingham.
“You couldn’t make this stuff up, but it actually happened,” Trooper Heather Axtman told The Bellingham Herald in an interview Friday.
Donna May Running Bear Cooke was booked into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of attempting to elude police vehicles, hit and run of an attended vehicle, DUI and third-degree driving with a suspended license, while James Valentino Revey Jr. was booked on suspicion of obstruction of a police officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and a controlled substance violation.
Police chase began near Northwest exit on I-5
According to Axtman, Thursday’s incident began shortly before 1:44 p.m. when troopers attempted to stop a 2000 Honda Accord driven by Running Bear Cooke near the Northwest Avenue exit of northbound I-5. Running Bear Cooke reportedly failed to stop and the pursuit ensued.
The Accord exited I-5 at West Bakerview Road, where it collided with a car, Axtman said, but that didn’t stop it, as Running Bear Cooke continued toward Bellingham International Airport, striking another car along the way.
That also didn’t end the pursuit, as it continued onto Airport Way and into the parking lot of State Patrol Vehicle Inspection building (3860 Airport Way), where Axtman said the Accord hit a parked Ford F-150 in the rear driver’s side quarter panel. A trooper was seated in the truck at the time.
That ended the vehicle pursuit, but Axtman said Running Bear Cooke and Revey attempted, unsuccessfully, to flee on foot, before they were taken into custody.
The trooper who was in the parked truck suffered a back injury, Axtman said, but was able to drive himself to the hospital to be checked out, and there were no other reported injuries, including to the passengers in the other two cars that were hit during the pursuit.
This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 10:15 AM.
