Man runs from Kennewick police in a stolen car tracked by GPS

A 24-year-old man is behind bars after he hit two cars and fled from police twice in a stolen car.

Casey Thompson allegedly took the vehicle from a Fowler Construction site in Richland and GPS data showed he was driving it in Kennewick Friday morning, Officer Zach Moore said in a release.

Kennewick officers caught up with Thompson at the intersection of Clearwater Avenue and Neel Street and tried to stop him. Thompson initially stopped, but he refused to follow commands and then sped away.

Officers did not chase him, but tracked the car to an apartment complex on the 6000 block of West Kennewick Avenue. Several officers tried surrounding the car, but Thomspon drove through an opening, hitting a patrol vehicle and another car along the way, said police.

No one was in the cars at the time.

Police said because Thompson was driving recklessly, they did not follow him.

Instead, using the GPS signal they tracked the car to where it was parked near the intersection of Kennewick Avenue and Jefferson Street.

A witness saw Thompson get out of the driver’s seat and run before trying to casually walk away.

Officers caught up with him, and he was booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion of car theft, eluding and first-degree malicious mischief.