Suspect caught after jumping in Yakima River to elude police

YAKIMA — A 23-year-old Yakima man who tried to escape from a state trooper by swimming across the Yakima River made his first court appearance in the case Thursday.

The chase started shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday when the trooper noticed a Volkswagen Jetta with a headlight out near Parker on U.S. Highway 97, said Sgt. Ed McAvoy of the Washington State Patrol.

The driver sped off when the trooper tried to stop the car, with speeds ranging between 45 and 65 mph during the chase, McAvoy said.

After about two miles, the suspect tried to lose the trooper by driving down a dirt road off a side road near the Parker Bridge. When that route hit a dead-end, the suspect jumped in the river, McAvoy said.

He started to tire about a quarter of the way across and ended up drifting to the opposite shore, where the trooper and a passerby were waiting to grab him, McAvoy said.

The suspect did not have a valid driver’s licen se. He was being held at the Yakima County jail on $5,000 bail for the eluding charge. He also had a pending warrant in a drunken-driving case and an immigration hold.