YAKIMA, Wash. – This is one Honda Accord thieves may want to avoid. The car was stolen twice in one day in Yakima County, and authorities quickly arrested suspects both times.
The car was stolen near Tieton early Friday, according to the sheriff's office. A detective in an unmarked car spotted it around 10:45 a.m. in Terrace Heights as it raced another Accord. The detective gave chase, losing one of the Hondas when the pair split up.
He followed the other until the driver abandoned it. Then, the detective chased the driver on foot until he kicked in a door at a nearby residence and went inside, sheriff's officials said.
Officers found a 21-year-old Yakima man in the home and arrested him for investigation of possessing the stolen car, attempting to elude police and burglary.
Meanwhile, another man got behind the wheel of the freshly abandoned Accord and stole it. That man, a 22-year-old from Sunnyside, also abandoned the vehicle a short distance away after realizing it had a flat tire, sheriff's officials said. He also was arrested.
Authorities were looking for the other Accord involved in the racing incident. They had a license plate number and said it, too, was reported stolen.