Man accused of intimidating deputy turns himself in

YAKIMA, Wash. — An 18-year-old man sought for allegedly trying to intimidate a sheriff’s deputy turned himself in Tuesday, the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office said this morning.

The man, who deputies said has gang ties, had been identified as one of two men who tried to threaten the deputy into leaving the Willow Tree Mobile Court, northwest of Toppenish, on March 6.

The man is in jail and faces charges of intimidating a public servant.

The same deputy was fired upon by two men with guns in a car near the mobile home court later that night. The sheriff’s office said in a news release that it hasn’t confirmed a link between the earlier confrontation and the shooting incident.

The car was later found abandoned and on fire on Harrah Road, south of Fort Road, deputies said.

The deputy was not hit. The incident marked the third time in nine months that a sheriff’s deputy has been fired on in Yakima County.

In July of last year, a deputy suffered a leg wound when he and another deputy were fired on in Outlook.

Two men shot at a deputy in December while attempting to steal a snow blower on Tieton Drive in West Valley.

— David Lester