Man suspected of hitting officers with a stolen car charged

TACOMA, Wash. — A 23-year-old man suspected of hitting two Tacoma officers with a stolen SUV on Sunday has been charged.

The Pierce County prosecutor’s office has charged John Kevin Fetui with two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of theft of a vehicle and attempting to elude police.

Fetui is said to have injured the officers during a call in the 1800 block of South Mason Street, where a vehicle was spotted after it was reported stolen.

Law enforcement said the officers spotted Fetui and a woman spray-painting the SUV a different color.

While talking with the couple, police asked them to put their “aggressive” dog away.

“They put the dog in the car and both jumped in the car,” said Wendy Haddow, spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department.

When the officers tried to detain them, police said Fetui threw the SUV in reverse while the door was open, hit both officers and knocked one of them to the ground, although the car had enough room to go forward.

“He elected to put it in reverse, go backwards quickly, struck both officers with the open car door and drove away,” Haddow said.

The officers were taken to the hospital after the SUV sped away, police said. The 46-year-old male officer broke a bone in the incident, and the 29-year-old female officer had minor injuries.

Neighbor A.J. Dilworth says he saw the incident unfold.

“It’s scary. Honestly, it’s like, where does it stop? Where do we go from here?” Dilworth said. “It could’ve been a deadly situation,” he said.

On Sunday night, the SUV was recovered in the 1400 block of East 25th Street and impounded.

At around 1 p.m. on May 3, officers located Fetui and attempted to stop him in the 3400 block of East Portland Avenue.

When the stop was initiated, Fetui fled in a stolen pickup truck, and Tacoma officers pursued the truck.

Officers were able to end the truck pursuit with a defensive maneuver on Taylor Way East near 54th Avenue East, but the man took off on foot.

After another short pursuit, Fetui was taken into custody.

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