Suspect Robs Top Food & Drug; Accomplice Crashes, Flees Police Car

Edmonds police today are looking for a suspected shoplifter's accomplice who evaded a patrol car, crashed in an intersection and fled on foot.

On Thursday at 8:06 p.m., Edmonds police responded to a reported shoplifting at Top Food & Drug at Highway 99 and 220^th Street Southwest. According to Sgt. Mike Blackburn, a white male fled the store with two baskets loaded with grocery items.

The suspect was seen jumping into the passenger side of a waiting red Ford Econoline van before it sped away southbound. The van was driven by a white male about 30, Blackburn said. Moments later, another Edmonds Police officer saw the Econoline southbound on Highway 99 approaching 238th Street Southwest.

When the officer tried to stop the vehicle, the driver sped up and ran the traffic light at the intersection, where it collided with a northbound vehicle. The van's driver fled on foot following the collision. The driver of the vehicle that was hit, a 57-year old Edmonds man, suffered only minor injuries that did not require medical attention.

A 41-year old Everett man police identified as the shoplifting suspect was arrested from the van's passenger seat. He suffered minor injuries during the collision and was treated at the scene by fire department personnel.

A 41-year-old Redmond woman in the back of the van was not wearing a seatbelt and suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries. She was takend to a Seattle hospital for leg and arm injuries. She was not charged.

The driver of the Econoline remains at large. He’s described as a 30-year-old white male, 5’11” and weighing about 200 pounds. The man has close-cropped light brown hair that witnesses described as appearing bald.

The incident remains under investigation.

If you have any information about this crime, you’re asked to call the Edmonds Police tip line at 425-771-0212.