YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Union Gap man arrested in connection with a Thursday night incident that injured a Yakima police officer may face a first-degree assault charge, police said Friday.
The 22-year-old suspect was being held in the Yakima County jail without bail due to an unrelated case.
The officer, Geoff Gronewald, was released from Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital Friday afternoon, but it was uncertain when he will return to duty.
He suffered bumps, bruises and a concussion after he tried to prevent a man from driving away after Gronewald pulled over a pickup.
He stopped the truck on 10th Avenue south of Washington Avenue because officers had been searching for the passenger, police said.
Against Gronewald's instructions, the driver had left the truck, Lt. Mike Merryman said. He was apparently trying to distract officers so that the passenger could flee in the truck, Merryman said.
When Gronewald reached into the truck to arrest the passenger, the man managed to put the truck in gear and take off, police said.
The truck traveled about 200 feet before plowing through a yard and into a porch, landing on one car and tipping into another, police said.
Gronewald was knocked unconscious inside the truck, where he remained briefly until a passerby alerted police that he was still inside.
Officers caught and arrested the suspect nearby. Initial reports that the original driver fled were incorrect, police said. He was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police.
The main suspect will not make a court appearance in the assault case until next week. Besides probation violations he was being held on, he faces trial in theft, identity theft and residential burglary cases.
He was to be in court Friday in connection with those cases, but he told jail officials he was sick.
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/11/20/11-21-09-officer-assault
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