A man alleged to have eluded Olympia Police and the Washington State Patrol on a high-speed chase just before noon last Friday was picked up without further incident at 2 p.m. on Saturday as he relaxed with a vape pen in a Lacey shopping center parking lot.
On May 7, Steven Olive, 37, caught the attention of a uniformed Olympia patrol officer parked near the Auto Mall with both windows rolled down after Olive’s dark-green Nissan Frontier truck sped by at an “elevated rate of speed” -- nearly 70 mph in a 35 mph posted zone -- with what police called an “obviously defective muffler.”
Olive’s vehicle passed several vehicles traveling the speed limit as if those vehicles were “parked and standing still,” maneuvering “wildly and recklessly” from the far left lane to the far right lane back to the far left lane in a “wild zigzag pattern and manner” according to the police report.
As Olympia Police attempted to contact Olive and gave chase, using his horn and siren, it was noticed by the officer that Olive “routinely looked and stared” back at him in the rearview and side mirrors but made no attempt to stop or pull over.
Approaching the on-ramp to Highway 101 southbound from Crosby Blvd, Olive allegedly made a 90-degree turn onto the on-ramp. The officer reported that he maneuvered his police vehicle to “within 1-2 feet of the driver’s side door”, continually sounding the horn and siren.
Olive pulled to a stop on the west edge of the on-ramp. As the officer exited their vehicle, telling Olive numerous times over their P.A. to turn off the engine which was “still running and loudly idling,” Olive accelerated away from the stopped location.
Traveling at 65-70 mph on northbound I-5 in pursuit of Olive’s vehicle, the officer noted in their report that Olive briefly “darted and zigzagged” in a wild left-to-right pattern to maneuver away from their location.
A short time later, a Washington State Patrol (WSP) trooper came from the south, attempting to make contact with Olive’s vehicle, activating their lights.
Olive allegedly drove on both the far-right and far-left shoulders several times while passing vehicles and managed to elude law enforcement completely, who gave up the chase.
On May 8, two Thurston County deputies made contact with Olive, who was smoking a vape pen while sitting in the parking lot of Planet Fitness at 700 Sleater Kinney Rd SE in Lacey. [A recording of Olive's interview with police on May 7 is included below this story. In the interview, he admitted to feeling unwell the previous day after using street drugs.]
Olive was arrested and transported to the Thurston County Jail and booked with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle, which is a class C felony.
This is a recording of a police interview with Steven Olive on Saturday, May 8, 2021 after he was apprehended by police.
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