Two men have been charged with prowling cars early Sunday before leading law enforcement on a chase through Lakewood and Tacoma that saw them twice enter freeways in the wrong direction.
Pranil Prasad, 26, of Kent was charged Monday afternoon in Pierce County Superior Court with second-degree assault, unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, attempting to elude police and second-degree vehicle prowling. Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set his bail at $150,000.
Nicholas Harman, 31, of Lakewood was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and second-degree vehicle prowling. Foley set his bail at $30,000.
Not guilty pleas were entered on their behalf.
According to charging documents:
Multiple Lakewood residents called police Sunday morning to report that two men traveling in a large pickup were breaking into vehicles.
A Lakewood police officer saw the truck in the 7500 block of Phillips Road Southwest. Two men we trying to put construction materials into it.
The men saw the officer approach, looked at one another, dropped what they were carrying and jumped into the truck, which drove down Steilacoom Boulevard Southwest. Dispatchers reported the truck had been stolen Saturday.
The officer chased the truck, with his sergeant joining in not long after, at speeds up to 80 mph in a 35-mph zone.
The pickup eventually drove north onto southbound Interstate 5 at the Gravelly Lake Drive exit, then nearly struck an unsuspecting Washington State Patrol trooper who was conducting a traffic stop.
The pickup’s driver then took the on-ramp to Bridgeport Way Southwest to get off the freeway, striking stop sticks in the process and puncturing the truck’s two passenger-side tires.
Nevertheless, the driver persisted, heading north on Bridgeport Way to Lakewood Drive and South Orchard Street, often traveling in the opposite lanes and nearly striking multiple vehicles.
After driving north through Tacoma, the driver got onto state Route 16, driving west in the eastbound lanes. He dodged Lakewood officers attempting to spin out the truck, but State Patrol troopers were able to send the pickup into a spin and ram it, disabling it.
The passenger, later identified as Harman, remained in the truck, where he was arrested, but the driver, later identified as Prasad, took off running. Lakewood officers eventually fished him out of some nearby bushes.
Harman said he didn’t realize the truck had been stolen, but officers noted that the ignition was obviously mangled and that no key or other object had been used to start the engine.
