Joshua A. Fitchhorn, 32, wearing red and white jail garb, listens to a defense attorney before Fitchhorn was charged with assault in court on Friday in Chehalis.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
More detailed accounts of last week’s police pursuit, ramming and shots fired involving a stolen pickup truck and a Centralia patrol car show the 1999 Ford F350 turned southbound on Euclid Way as the police cruiser was traveling north on the same residential street.
Officer Michael Lowrey stopped his fully-marked patrol vehicle with his overhead lights activated and watched as the lifted four-wheel drive truck continued straight toward him and slammed into the front of the patrol car, according to charging documents in the case.
A residential surveillance camera captured the moments on videotape and was handed over to the Centralia Police Department.
The suspect is being held on $500,000 bail in the Lewis County Jail and Lowrey will be on administrative leave until a review of the shooting is completed.
Joshua A. Fitchhorn, 32, of SeaTac, went before a judge Friday afternoon and is expected in Lewis County Superior Court again on Thursday.
Defense attorney Bob Schroeter told Judge Nelson Hunt that Fitchhorn is unemployed and his last residence – since the beginning of May – was American Behavioral Health Systems, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Chehalis.
Also in the Chehalis courtroom on Friday afternoon was the owner of the truck and his friend, Clyde Hughes of Napavine.
The two men had stopped at Burkett’s Auto Sales on South Gold Street in Centralia to talk with the owner, John Burkett on Thursday afternoon, the men said after the brief hearing. Winlock resident Thomas Howsden stepped out of his pickup truck and left it running when somebody drove it away, according to charging documents.
Hughes and Burkett hopped into Burkett’s truck and gave chase, as they contacted 911, and followed the stolen truck through town, Hughes said.
“We lost him six or seven times and then we’d see him pop out on another street,” Hughes said.
The 30-year-old Napavine man said they were just seconds behind the confrontation between the police officer and the suspect.
The videotape – broadcast by Seattle television stations – shows the truck hit the patrol car, back up and then move forward again as though to make a U-turn and strike the patrol car a second time. It shows Lowrey then exit his vehicle and take aim with his handgun as the pickup drove away.
Centralia Public Information Officer John Panco last Friday said one bullet was confirmed as having struck the truck. Howsden, who has gotten his vehicle back, described it as having two bullet holes through it, but otherwise in relatively fair condition.
Hughes described what he concluded were the pathways of the two rounds. One traveled through the rear passenger window of the truck, through the passenger headrest and out the lower driver’s side of the windshield, Hughes said. The other bullet entered the driver’s side door just about at ear level, he said.
Nobody was shot. Neither police nor prosecutors have detailed the number of shots fired or where they ended up.
Court documents charging Fitchhorn note Officer Lowrey fired several shots at the fleeing pickup truck.
While Fitchhorn was arrested and booked after Thursday’s events for first-degree assault, he was charged on Friday with with second-degree assault. He was also charged with vehicle theft, attempting to elude and hit and run.
The defendant has two prior convictions for felony eluding and three times been convicted for second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission, according to Deputy Prosecutor Kjell Werner. He also has a 1995 second-degree assault conviction, according to Werner.
Werner said outside the courtroom he applied the lesser assault charge because first-degree assault involves intent to to do great bodily harm. “And I’m not sure there’s enough evidence for assault one,” Werner said.
The speed of the truck as it turned south on Euclid and was observed by Lowrey coming at him was described as a “high rate”, in charging documents.
Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg yesterday noted it was fast enough it caused over $5,000 damage to the patrol car and put his officer on medical leave for five days.
Lowrey was treated for a minor injury to his head and released from the hospital Thursday evening.
The 11-year veteran of the department is expected to return to what Berg described as modified duty pending the outcome of the administrative review.
Berg said a panel of three command-level officers – two from an outside his agency – will review Lowrey’s actions in comparison to department policies. They’ll then give a report and a recommendation to Berg, the chief said.
The last time a Centralia officer shot at a suspect was in January during a robbery at the TwinStar Credit Union. Otherwise it’s relatively rare, according to Centralia police.
Berg said he could recall four such incidents in the past 30 years, including one fatal shooting of a robbery suspect in the 1970s.
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