A South Kitsap man is wanted for first-degree assault that occurred during a high-speed pursuit involving a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputy on Oct. 6.
Deputies identified the driver as 22-year-old Zenin Russell Gerhing, according to a news release by KCSO.
Approximately at 6:45 p.m., a deputy was patrolling in the Olalla area when he observed a 1993 Honda Civic traveling at a high rate of speed eastbound on SE Burly Olalla Road from State Highway 16.
The Honda’s driver turned southbound on Bandix Road SE and hit speeds in excess of 80 mph in a 40-mph zone. The deputy attempted to stop the Honda which was being driven recklessly as the car passed a vehicle in a no-passing zone going close to 90 mph.
The Honda continued southbound at speeds between 50-60 mph. After the pavement turned to a dirt roadway surface, the Honda’s driver fishtailed his car frequently pushing it to the road’s dead-end. The driver turned into a private residential driveway and forced the Honda underneath a cable barrier spanning the entrance to the rural property.
The deputy watched as the driver accelerated his car into the parking area of the property, backed into a fence and turned around, headed directly at the officer. The man skidded to a stop nearly striking the deputy and the front of his patrol vehicle.
At gunpoint, the deputy directed the driver to shut off the car’s engine, but the driver refused. Instead, he continually revved the engine and rocked the Honda back and forth and the deputy observed a woman in her early 20s hunched down in the front passenger seat.
When the deputy issued subsequent commands for the driver to turn off his car’s engine, the driver revved the engine again and accelerated directly at the deputy, nearly striking him, then spinning the Honda sideways and underneath the barrier cable and past the stopped patrol car, taking off northbound on Bandix Road.
The deputy resumed the pursuit as the Honda passed a truck almost colliding with another vehicle. The driver turned eastbound on SE Nelson Road, increasing his speed up to 90 mph, as he passed other cars on blind hills and in no passing zones.
The Honda turned northbound onto Forsman Road SE and then southbound onto Olalla Valley Road SE close to 100 mph. The deputy chased the Honda southbound onto Crescent Valley Road SE at speeds averaging between 80-90 mph, at some points the fleeing Honda forced oncoming vehicles off the roadway.
At 6:56 p.m., the deputy ended the pursuit as the danger to public safety became too great. The Honda continued southbound into Pierce County, reported the deputy.
Around 7:30 p.m. a resident in the unincorporated area of Pierce County, north of Gig Harbor, discovered the suspect’s Honda abandoned more than three miles from the Kitsap-Pierce County line. A witness reported seeing a male and a female walking away toward Crescent Valley Road.
KCSO deputies converged to the Pierce County location and attempted a K-9 track, which was unsuccessful.
The Honda Civic was later impounded.
