Fife delivery driver says she was hit by a driver who fled a police stop

A Fife woman is recovering from devastating injuries after a man driving a stolen car sped away from police.

Now she is filing a lawsuit to find out if the actions of Fife police put her at risk.

This accident happened late last month, just two weeks before the state legislature voted overwhelmingly to roll back restrictions on police chases.

“The vehicle was traveling so fast I didn’t even register him when I did my methods,” she said. “He was going about 60 to 70 miles an hour.”

On a street that has a speed limit of? “Thirty-five. "

That proved a dangerous combination for this 36-year-old delivery driver. She says she was headed back to home base when the light turned green for her on 12th Street East in Fife.

It was 5:45 at night on February 19.

“Next thing I know, I look right again and the F-250 is just barrelling into my truck,” she said. “And as he hit me, I flew off of this, the right side of the street. And I was dangling on my seatbelt when my truck was pushed into the pole.”

Turns out the man who hit her was actually fleeing from Fife Police. They tell us an officer turned on his lights to pull him over, but the man took off. The officer then turned off his lights because under the current law, he could not legally chase him.

But that didn’t prevent the near-fatal accident.

“It’s hard to tease apart the facts and understand why that accident happened,” said Leslie Cushman, WA Coalition for Police Accountability.

Even those who support tight restrictions on police chases aren’t sure that this could have been prevented. This, just days after the state legislature voted to remove most of the current restrictions on police chases, essentially gutting a three-year-old law.

The fear is that more chases will mean more innocent people hit.

In fact, Chris Davis, the Seattle lawyer representing the woman, says he isn’t taking the word of Fife police.

He wants body cam video and any other evidence he can find to determine if the suspect was being chased.

Meanwhile, his client says everyone should be alert even if there is a green light because someone could be driving right through it.

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