Fleeing car strikes patrol car

GRANT COUNTY — A Grant County Sheriff’s Office patrol car collided head-on with a stolen vehicle they were pursuing Tuesday.

The four occupants found in the stolen vehicle were arrested.

“Deputies were advised that a vehicle had just been reported stolen in the town of Mattawa and a single deputy had found the stolen vehicle occupied by four males in the Lower Crab Creek area and state Route 243,” Grant County Undersheriff John Turley stated. “A deputy attempted to stop the vehicle.”

The driver of the stolen Ford station wagon reportedly did not yield to police. The vehicle continued east on Lower Crab Creek Road, he stated.

“Deputies converged on the pursuit, which ultimately went as far as Yakima County near Moxee,” Turley stated. “A Washington State Patrol trooper working the Yakima area assisted with spike strips, which when deployed deflated the tires of the vehicle. The vehicle traveled another half mile and turned on a dead-end road.”

The station wagon struck a gate to a residence on Moody Road in Yakima County.

“As the fleeing vehicle attempted to turn around, a Grant County deputy’s vehicle collided head-on stopping the vehicle in its tracks,” Turley stated.

Ruben Lucio Jr., 25, Mattawa, Jose Luis Olivares Garcia, 21, of Mattawa, and two juveniles were booked into Grant County Jail for vehicle theft and possession of the stolen firearm.

Lucio was recently released from prison in October after serving time for assaulting a sheriff’s deputy. Olivares Garcia has a lengthy criminal record in Grant County, Turley reported.

The two adults are known gang members in the Mattawa area, he advised.

“The investigation continues as a loaded stolen firearm was located near where Lucio had been seated in the stolen vehicle,” Turley stated. “The firearm was reported stolen from Newport, Ore. Lucio is a convicted felon and it is illegal for him to possess a firearm. Olivares is out of jail pending trial of attempted rape/sexual assault-domestic violence.”