Pursuit of stolen truck leads to two-vehicle wreck, injuries near Black Lake Tuesday

A driver fleeing from a deputy allegedly crashed a stolen truck into another vehicle near Black Lake on Tuesday, injuring themselves and other people.

The collision occurred after 7:20 p.m. near the intersection of Black Lake Boulevard Southwest and Black Lake Belmore Road, according to a Thurston County Sheriff’s Office news release. The release says the stolen truck struck another vehicle that was traveling south and came to a rest on its side, leaning against a power pole.

First responders reportedly transported the driver of the truck to an area hospital. The county’s arrest log shows the driver is suspected of attempting to elude, possession of a stolen vehicle and vehicular assault.

Two people in the vehicle that was struck were taken to an area hospital with injuries as well, the news release says.

Witnesses told deputies that a female occupant of the stolen truck briefly tried to flee the scene, then asked witnesses to lie about her role in the incident, according to the release.

Olympia police had been actively searching for the stolen truck earlier that day, the news release says. A deputy reportedly spotted the truck in west Olympia while en route to another call and initiated a pursuit.

The deputy tried to get close enough to deploy a Starchase GPS tracker onto the vehicle, but the release says the driver sped away too fast for the deputy to catch up.

The deputy reportedly discovered the collision after rounding a corner near Black Lake Belmore Road.

If the GPS tracker was successfully deployed, the device would have allowed the deputy to disengage from the pursuit and remotely monitor the whereabouts of truck.

The tracker is one of two novel pursuit technologies that the Sheriff’s Office is piloting this year, The Olympian previously reported .