Woman arrested after striking police vehicles in Poulsbo

A 31-year-old Seattle woman whose vehicle contained costumes with wigs was in Kitsap County Superior Court Jan. 12.

She was charged with attempting to elude a police vehicle and first-degree malicious mischief in Poulsbo.

Court papers say about 1 a.m. Jan. 11 an officer saw a vehicle turn without signaling and tried to pull it over. The vehicle accelerated north on Viking Avenue NW in Poulsbo. The vehicle crashed through the gate at Snider Park.

The officer got outside his vehicle and attempted a high-risk stop, papers say. The officer said the vehicle headed toward him, “so I ran out of the way in fear that I was going to be struck.”

Another officer arrived, and the vehicle came toward both of them. The officers saw a woman driving and two men as passengers with their faces covered. The vehicle struck both patrol cars when the officers were behind them. Both escaped injury, as did a prisoner who was still in custody in the first officer’s car. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at several thousand dollars.

The woman then drove through a fence separating the park from Highway 3, leaving it “flattened like a pancake,” the court papers say. Her vehicle then crashed into a raised portion of concrete on the highway. All three took off running, but the first officer was able to catch the woman after a foot chase.

Back at the vehicle, another officer found various driver’s licenses, a credit card skimmer and costumes with wigs.

Bail was set at $100,000. If convicted of both she could face up to 15 years in prison and/or $30,000 in fines.