Staff Reports
A brazen display of lawlessness unfolded Sunday night when suspects in an allegedly stolen pickup flung running chainsaws out the window during a pursuit near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, putting deputies and motorists at grave risk. This wasn’t a movie stunt — it was a deliberate, dangerous tactic aimed at disabling pursuing police and causing real harm to civilians on the highway. The danger of such reckless behavior demands we treat these acts with the seriousness they deserve.
According to Pierce County deputies, the owner reported her 2006 Ford F-250 stolen from a Parkland apartment complex around 11:50 p.m., and officers quickly spotted the truck trying to leave the area. Deputies say the front-seat passenger was seen tossing a chainsaw and rope gear out the window during the chase, and charging documents reveal a second chainsaw was discarded as well. Throwing heavy, spinning blades onto a public roadway isn’t mischief — it’s a violent threat to anyone who happened to be in the pursuit’s path.
The pickup ultimately exited toward the JBLM logistics gate, went off the road and became stuck, forcing the suspects to flee on foot — a predictable end to desperate flight from responsibility. A sheriff’s K-9 located the 31-year-old passenger back in the truck; he sustained a dog bite and was taken for treatment before being booked on assault and obstruction charges. Reports even indicate a state patrol vehicle sustained significant damage after striking one of the discarded chainsaws, underscoring how recklessly these men endangered first responders.
Military police later located the 28-year-old driver and he was booked into the Pierce County Jail on a slate of charges, including unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude officers, with bail set at $50,000. Good — hold them accountable, and let the justice system do its job without political theater. Communities fed up with rising brazen crime don’t need lectures about root causes right now; they need effective policing and prosecutors who pursue public safety unapologetically.
This episode is a stark reminder that criminals will weaponize anything at hand if we let a culture of permissiveness take root. Conservatives believe in law and order because without it hardworking Americans cannot go about their lives in safety; rolling back support for police or soft-pedaling consequences invites more of the same chaos. Our officers put themselves on the line to protect us, and the least we can do is demand robust responses when they’re targeted like this.
Elected leaders and prosecutors should see this for what it is: an escalation, not an isolated prank. Tougher penalties for using tools as weapons, quicker prosecutions, and community backing for law enforcement are commonsense measures that keep neighborhoods safe and deter future copycats. If we want public streets where families and veterans from JBLM can travel without fearing chainsaws on the asphalt, we must be relentless in defending order and enforcing consequences.
Hardworking Americans know the score — liberty and safety are twins, and you cannot have one without the other. Support your local deputies, ask tough questions of soft-on-crime officials, and insist that justice for dangerous offenders is swift and certain. The alternative is a slow slide into normalized lawlessness, and no patriotic citizen should accept that.
