YAKIMA, Wash.- Kevin Schwartzkopf working inside Ace Hardware on Fourth Avenue when he and his coworkers heard the crash outside.
“It was surreal,” said Schwartzkopf. “You see it on TV but to have it happen right in front of you is something that just doesn’t happen every day. It was crazy.”
“They were literally everywhere,” he said. “They had guns drawn. There was three of them directly in front of us on the corner. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many police at a single event here in town before.”
Schwartzkopf says he counted 28 cars between responding Yakima Police officers and Yakima County Sheriff deputies.
As they arrested the suspect, the Ace Hardware employee grew worried as he recognized the truck the suspect crashed into.
“It just left our store,” he said. “I just rang the guys up. They go into their van and didn’t even make it across the street.”
Police say the suspect car was driving through town between 50-60 miles per hour. Schwartzkopf says he’s never seen anyone drive Yakima Avenue that fast, but he heard it from inside.
“That kind of magnitude, it reverberated inside,” he said.
Witnesses say the result of the crash, speeding tires and bullets shot at police left a smoky scene. Schwartzkopf waited for the smoke to dissipate to check on his customers.
“I couldn’t check on them because the place was surrounded by police,” he said. “I finally got a thumbs up from one of our customers, and it was good to see that they were acknowledging they were okay.”
The employee says Ace’s owner is friends with the owner of the Roto Rooter franchise. The owner tells NonStop Local the passenger taken to the hospital got stitches on his face and neck and damaged his shoulder.
Washington State Patrol is investigating the collision and YPD is investigating the pursuit.
