By Wendy Giroux
King County Prosecutors last week charged Reinhard Georg Wysgoll for his role in the theft of a Mercer Island police car and ensuing chase.
Mercer Island police say Officer Manord Rucker, who shot Wysgoll, also shot suspects in the only other two officer-involved shootings since 1985. In both of those incidents, the suspects survived and Rucker’s actions were ruled justified in departmental reviews.
Prosecutors charged Wysgoll, 22, of Seattle, with second degree car theft and third degree escape. Wysgoll was released from Harborview Medical Center and is being held at the King County Jail in Seattle in lieu of $100,000 bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, after Reporter deadline.
Wysgoll’s partner, a 34-year-old Seattle man who initially escaped from police, is also in jail but has not yet been charged. He is being held without bail on a community placement hold issued by the Department of Corrections for a prior escape.
Police say the incident began when Officer John Pritchard saw a Ford Explorer — which was later determined to have been stolen from Seattle in January — pull out of an area on the Island where a burglary and car prowl had occurred, and began following the vehicle.
According to charging papers, when the man behind the wheel began driving erratically, Pritchard activated his emergency lights and tried to stop the Explorer. The driver continued west on Interstate 90, exited in the Rainier Valley and got back on I-90 eastbound. After breaking through several barricades and driving the wrong way on the HOV lanes, the suspects stopped the Explorer in the Mount Baker Tunnel, only after popping a tire.
The two men inside jumped out and began to run in different directions. Pritchard caught the passenger, later identified as Wysgoll, and tried to handcuff him. As they struggled, Rucker arrived in the tunnel and saw the driver fleeing. Rucker tried to use his vehicle to block the driver’s escape, but the man ran back to Pritchard’s patrol car and got into the driver’s seat.
Rucker again tried to block the suspect from leaving, and this time the man rammed Rucker’s patrol car with the stolen police vehicle in an effort to get away. Pritchard broke away from Wysgoll to assist, and shot out both front tires on the stolen patrol car. Meanwhile, the suspect managed to pick up Wysgoll and speed off eastbound toward Mercer Island.
While Pritchard stayed with the stolen Explorer, Rucker pursued the stolen patrol car. When police later searched the Explorer, they found a loaded pistol that had been stolen from a Washington State Trooper during a vehicle prowl in January.
As Rucker drove across I-90, he saw the shotgun in the stolen patrol car moving, but couldn’t tell which suspect was handling it. The suspects exited I-90 at 77th Avenue S.E., failed to negotiate a corner and came to a stop on a sidewalk, court documents say. Wysgoll and the driver both got out to flee, with Rucker yelling repeatedly at Wysgoll to stop and get down.
Wysgoll did not respond and continued to run. Rucker fired his weapon at the suspect three times, hitting the suspect twice, according to police reports. Medics treated Wysgoll at the scene and transported him to Harborview.
Interviewed later by Bellevue Police detectives, Wysgoll said that as they drove across the lake, his partner was yelling “Get the shotgun. Shoot them, shoot them.”
Bellevue police are investigating the officer-involved shooting; Seattle police examined the initial scene in the tunnel. According to standard police policy, both Rucker and Pritchard have been placed on paid administrative leave while the case is investigated.
“Rucker is an officer that goes out and works very hard and does his job very well,” Sgt. Lance Davenport said.
Officer Rucker has been awarded the Medal of Valor for trying to save a homeowner from a burning condominium, and a Distinguished Service Award for serving 27 years as the department’s firearm instructor, Davenport said.
“John (Pritchard) is another officer that is very knowledgeable. He comes to work, works hard, knows the job and the law very well,” he said. “It’s two very experienced, good, professional officers that were involved.”
