Suspect in March chase arrested after another police pursuit

A man accused of fleeing police and then shocking an officer with the officer’s Taser in March is back in jail for allegedly leading police on yet another chase.

Police said Brandon K. Hutchinson sped over barriers, through red lights and stop signs, and into oncoming traffic in Spokane Valley Monday afternoon, causing one police officer to claim it “didn’t appear that he was going to stop for anyone or anything.”

Hutchinson crashed at the intersection of Sinto Avenue and Ella Road near Interstate 90 and led police on a brief foot chase before he was captured, according to court documents.

He was first spotted by police Monday on East Sprague Avenue. “He was at a strip club,” said prosecuting attorney Steve Garvin in court Thursday. Officers also reported that Hutchinson appeared to be high, Garvin said.

Hutchinson’s attorney, Adrienne Thommes, said Hutchinson knew the U.S. marshals were looking for him but was “laying low” until his next court date because “he was terrified that they were going to kill him.”

On March 17 a police officer attempted to stop a car in Spokane’s Browne’s Addition, but the driver sped away until crashing at First Avenue and Cannon Street. A witness saw Hutchinson run from the passenger side of the car with a gun in his hand, according to court documents. Police were chasing Hutchinson on foot as he kicked in the back door of a home and stole the resident’s car keys despite the woman hitting him with a spatula. He then ran out the front door of the home, where he began struggling with police.

During the struggle Hutchinson was able to take a Taser from an officer’s belt and attempted to pull the trigger several times, court records say. Hutchinson delivered a “touch stun” to the side of the officer’s neck, according to court documents, but he was still captured.

Hutchinson was ordered held on $100,000 bond on several charges. On April 24 Hutchinson and his attorney, Thommes, filed a motion to reduce bail.

“I pray the Court will have an open mind in looking at me as an actual person, and not a worthless criminal that belongs in jail,” Hutchinson wrote. “I have a checkered past, but I am not a lost cause.”

Thommes wrote in the motion that Hutchinson had a “very rough start at life.”

“In essence, I mean that he was catching charges when he should have been catching baseballs at the park with his little friends.”

Court records show that Hutchinson has been convicted of nine felonies as an adult – including harassment, burglary, assault and vehicle theft – and four felonies as a juvenile. He also has 13 misdemeanors on his record. Hutchinson’s most recent stint in prison was from March 2011 to July 2014.

He was released from jail on May 4, and one of the court-ordered conditions was that he had to report where he was staying within one day of his release. Garvin requested a warrant for Hutchinson’s arrest on May 7 after a check revealed that Hutchinson had not complied with that order.

Hutchinson remains in jail on several charges. His bond has been increased to $310,000.