A man who stole from Walmart, pushed a store security officer and led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen pickup across North Whidbey before ramming police cars was arrested Wednesday, according to court documents.
August C. Cundiff, 30, of Oak Harbor, made a preliminary appearance Thursday in Island County Superior Court.
The judge found probable cause that Cundiff committed second-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree assault, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a stolen vehicle.
His bail was set at $100,000.
The incident began at about 1 p.m. in the Oak Harbor Walmart. A store security employee saw a man, later identified as Cundiff, and a woman take a car stereo from a shelf and, without buying it, try to “return” it for a gift card, according to an officer’s report.
The employee tried to stop Cundiff, but he pushed her out of the way and fled in a blue Toyota pickup.
Several officers chased the truck on State Highway 20, but it didn’t yield. The police chief called off the chase after the truck went through an intersection in a residential area without stopping.
A Washington State Patrol trooper spotted the truck on Airline Way. He chased the truck on Crosby Road, Heller Road, Clover Valley Road, Golf Course Road, West Beach Road, Van Dam Road, Zylstra Road and onto the highway.
The truck sped much of the way, going 70 mph in a 45 mph zone on Heller Road, according to the trooper’s report.
The trooper terminated the pursuit because the danger to other drivers; the pickup kept going into the opposing lane of traffic, the report states.
Finally, the pickup stalled after Cundiff tried to make a last-minute turn onto Miller Road. The trooper and a deputy with the Island County Sheriff’s Office blocked the pickup from leaving, but Cundiff rammed both cars before being arrested, the trooper wrote.
Cundiff, who initially gave a false name, told officers he was sorry and didn’t stop because he was scared. The woman in the passenger seat was frightened but unhurt.
The trooper found a container with suspected meth in Cundiff’s coat pocket. It turned out the pickup was reported stolen the day before; Condiff said he got it from a cousin in Puyallup, the report states.
