{"id":1989,"date":"2010-09-15T16:04:49","date_gmt":"2010-09-15T23:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2010-09-16T04:33:13","modified_gmt":"2010-09-16T11:33:13","slug":"patrol-car-rammer-pleads-guilty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/?p=1989","title":{"rendered":"Patrol car “rammer” pleads guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker
\nLewis County Sirens news reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEHALIS – The man who ran a stolen pickup truck into a patrol car prompting a police officer to open fire in a Centralia neighborhood in late July was sentenced to almost five years in prison today after he pleaded guilty in Lewis County Superior Court.<\/p>\n

Joshua A. Fitchhorn, 32, of SeaTac, wanted to plead guilty pretty much from day one, his lawyer told Judge Nelson Hunt.<\/p>\n

\"2010.0729.ramshoot\"<\/a>

Centralia Police Officer Michael Lowrey is shown as he fires at a pickup truck driving away after it rammed Lowrey's patrol car.<\/p><\/div>\n

Defense attorney David Arcuri and Deputy Prosecutor Kjell Werner worked out a deal in which one charge was lowered but both agreed to recommend the judge hand out the maximum sentence under the law. Hunt concurred.<\/p>\n

Fitchhorn was arrested July 29 after he stole a pickup truck and was chased through town by police officers as well as a pair of men who witnessed the theft.<\/p>\n

Charging documents and a residential surveillance camera show Officer Michael Lowrey stopped his patrol car on Euclid Street and the lifted four-wheel drive truck headed toward him and struck the front of the patrol car. The videotape shows the truck 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.<\/p>\n

Warner said he understood Lowrey fired three shots and two narrowly missed Fitchhorn.<\/p>\n

“The guy’s lucky to be alive,” Warner said after the court hearing. “It was a stupid thing to do, but … he’s lucky.”<\/p>\n

Lowrey, an 11-year veteran of the department, was treated for a minor injury to his head after the ramming.<\/p>\n

He was put on what Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg described as modified duty pending the outcome of the administrative review. The results of the review have not been released.<\/p>\n

Fitchhorn pleaded guilty today to attempting to elude, hit and run, vehicle theft and third-degree assault. The last charge was lowered from second-degree assault in the plea agreement.<\/p>\n

The unemployed man who had recently been released from a Chehalis drug and alcohol treatment center had two prior convictions for felony eluding and three times been convicted for second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission, according to the prosecutor’s office.<\/p>\n

Warner said it was a good deal for Fitchhorn as none of the final charges would be a strike offense and suggested it was beneficial to the prosecutor’s office as well.<\/p>\n

“Honestly, there were some questions of the sufficiency of the evidence,” Warner said.<\/p>\n

It looked in the video tape as though the brakes on the truck locked up and he was trying not to hit the patrol car, Warner said.<\/p>\n

Fitchhorn when he was questioned by the judge about what he did began to say he didn’t see the patrol car and the judge cut him off.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced to 57 months on two of the counts, 43 months on one and 18 months on another. They will be served concurrently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sharyn\u00a0 L. Decker Lewis County Sirens news reporter CHEHALIS – The man who ran a stolen pickup truck into a patrol car prompting a police officer to open fire in a Centralia neighborhood in late July was sentenced to almost five years in prison today after he pleaded guilty in Lewis County Superior Court. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story","tag-by-sharyn-l-decker","tag-news-reporter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1994,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/1994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lewiscountysirens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}