Bodycam footage released of teens arrested after robbery and chase in Eatonville

Four teens — three boys and a girl — suspected of robbing a convenience store on June 9 in South Hill led deputies on a chase in a stolen SUV to Eatonville, according to recently released bodycam footage.

Pierce County deputies were called to the store in the 15200 block of Meridian East at 5:33 a.m. Friday, June 9, where an employee told them that three black men robbed him at gunpoint and then left in a white Kia Soul.

A sheriff’s deputy saw the Kia heading south on 224th Street East and Meridian East and tried to pull it over, but the driver continued.

Because armed robbery is a prosecutable crime, deputies chased the Kia south on Meridian/SR 161 to Eatonville, where deputies momentarily lost track of the SUV through the curves of the highway.

A few minutes later, a deputy sheriff found the SUV and the driver backed into his patrol car, the sheriff said. The SUV then drove over stop sticks placed by deputies before heading north on SR 161.

When the Kia crashed on Orville Road East near Ohop Lake, the teens ran away. A 16-year-old boy was quickly found and arrested.

A police dog was used to follow the remaining teens across a creek and through the gardens of several homes. A neighbor told deputies that a teenager who had been in her yard asked her to call his mother because he was being chased by police.

While officers searched the area, they found clothing that the suspects wore during the robbery.

At 8:18 a.m., the police dog found two of the three teenagers, a 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, in a neighborhood. Neighbors told police the couple, who had taken most of their clothes off and were soaking wet, had asked for a ride outside the area.

Deputies said that in the few minutes they lost track of the teenagers in Eatonville, they had tried to steal a Kia, smashing the rear window and damaging the ignition.

The three teens were booked into Remann Hall, the Pierce County juvenile detention center.

The fourth suspect, an 18-year-old man, was later seen walking near SR 161 and Ohop Creek Drive North. He was stopped by Eatonville agents and a witness identified him as one of the suspects.

The 18-year-old was charged with theft on $150,000 bail.

The two 16-year-old boys and the 15-year-old girl were charged with theft, taking a motor vehicle without permission and obstruction. All were ordered to be held in detention.