An infant was one of two passengers in a car that reached speeds of 140 miles per hour down Interstate 5 as a Washington State Patrol trooper gave chase early Friday morning, according to authorities.
As a result of the alleged incident, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Derek M. Mercurio, 29. He was charged with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a WSP trooper was on patrol at 12:54 a.m. Friday when he observed a vehicle driving in the dark without activated tail lights. The trooper turned on his vehicle’s emergency lights near exit 63 on northbound I-5, but the suspect’s vehicle allegedly didn’t stop.
The vehicle “continued to make evasive maneuvers throughout the pursuit,” state court documents, which later read: “The defendant drove recklessly, making multiple unsafe lane changes and passing multiple vehicles on the right hand shoulder. At one point the defendant had a near collision with another vehicle.”
Speeds allegedly ranged from 120-140 mph.
The chase continued down I-5 until exit 77, where the suspect vehicle got off and hung a right onto West Main Street. The trooper stopped the chase once in city limits, and observed the vehicle come to a rest on Northwest State Street. That’s where the alleged driver got out of the vehicle and ran away. The trooper gave chase on foot, but lost the suspect, later allegedly identified as Mercurio.
The trooper returned to the suspect’s vehicle where he found a woman and an infant inside as passengers.
A sheriff’s office K-9 was brought to the area to track Mercurio, when he allegedly emerged from a building — although court documents do not specify what building — and he was arrested.
Mercurio had a preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court with Judge Joely O’Rourke Monday afternoon, where he was placed on a $25,000 cash bond, in tune with a request from the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. He has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Thursday.
