A 42-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of multiple crimes Monday night, potentially adding to his extensive criminal history, according to the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.
About 10 p.m., deputies, suspecting that the man was driving under the influence, attempted to stop him in his truck, which was hauling an excavator.
Instead of stopping, the man drove away from deputies, only to slide off the road in the area of Koeppen Road and Hillcrest Drive Southeast in Yelm.
The man and a woman then fled from the scene on foot, but were later located and taken into custody by deputies and Yelm police. A K9 also located a loaded gun in the bushes where the man was arrested.
He was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence, eluding a police vehicle, resisting arrest, obstructing a law enforcement officer and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
"He has 15 prior felony convictions, with three prior convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm," the Sheriff's Office said in a social media post. "...This incident will be his fifth iteration of unlawful possession of a firearm in the court system."
