Body cameras capture struggle during Pierce County DUI arrest
Pierce County ramps up DUI patrols for St. Patrick's Day
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is ramping up DUI emphasis patrols for Saint Patrick's Day following a serious crash last weekend.
TACOMA, Wash. - Don't try your luck this Saint Patrick's Day. That's the message from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department and other agencies as they ramp up DUI patrols for the holiday.
Local perspective:
The increased patrols come on the heels of a serious DUI crash this weekend in Pierce County near 352nd Street East and Eatonville Cutoff Road East.
"We clipped at the same time," said one of the men who was questioned following the crash Saturday.
Body camera video from March 15 shows Pierce County deputies as they questioned the passenger and driver involved in the crash that injured a 62-year-old man.
"So how much have we had to drink tonight?" asked the deputy.
One of the men replied, "Me? I drank, I’m not driving, so..."
The deputy responded to them, "OK, I don’t believe that you’re sober because your speech is low and slurred."
One of the men answered, "Ok well, you can take it however you want."
Body camera video also captured the damage done to the victim's car.
"His car is, his car is destroyed," said the deputy on video.
Deputies said the victim was pulled from the wreckage and rushed to the hospital.
"Got the driver of the mustang extricated, put him on a gurney. Right now they are definitely going to transport him," said the deputy.
It's those types of crashes that the sheriff's department says its DUI emphasis patrols are designed to prevent.
"You can see that both the driver and the passenger are extremely intoxicated," said Carly Cappetto, Pierce County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer, about the men seen on video.
Cappetto says the emphasis patrols were underway over the weekend and will continue overnight from Monday into Tuesday morning.
"We are out there, and we are going to make arrests on these DUIs," said Cappetto.
She says in the March 15 case, things went from bad to worse when a deputy tried to do a sobriety test with the driver. Both the driver and passenger are pictured below.
"We’ll walk over," said the deputy.
"I’m going to walk with him,' the passenger responded.
That's when the passenger refused to leave his side, resulting in a scuffle between the passenger and a deputy. The passenger was ultimately arrested for obstruction, and the driver, vehicular assault and DUI.
Cappetto says it's better to designate a sober driver so you don't risk a serious legal hangover.
"The biggest thing is, we want people to go out and celebrate and just plan to have safe rides home and just know that if you do choose to drive, we are out there, and we will catch you and arrest you," said Cappetto.
Cappetto says Pierce County had a total of 213 DUIs that were processed in 2024. Looking at 2025, she says vehicular homicides and assaults are trending upward.
Capetto says that due to the increased use of drugs by drivers, deputies are seeing a greater number of DUIs involving drugs currently than DUIs coming from alcohol use.
The Source: Information in this story is from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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