Car thief suspect in Port Orchard police car ramming was facing charges on another car theft case
At the same time a 26-year-old alleged car thief was accused of ramming Port Orchard police cars last week to escape an attempt to trap him he was facing car theft-related charges from last year.
In addition to the charges filed Monday for the ramming incident Jan. 26 in the Goodwill parking lot at 1700 Mile Hill Drive — which a bystander filmed — Brandon Charles Ervin was also charged Monday in Kitsap County Superior Court with vehicular assault for a crash that occurred Nov. 21 in South Kitsap.
Ervin is not in custody and has warrants issued for his arrest. Police reported that the 1987 Toyota Tercel was stolen, and video shows the driver ramming two police cars and two parked cars to get away, but police did not pursue him.
Port Orchard Police Chief Matt Brown said despite what was seen on the video, officers did not have evidence of a serious enough crime to chase the driver under current state law.
The new cases against Ervin come as Port Orchard and the rest of Kitsap County are experiencing a dramatic increase in reports of car thefts.
The cases also come as defendants facing felony charges in Kitsap County Superior Court are being released with little or no bail to be accused of further felonies, resulting again in their release from jail with little or no bail.
Part of what is driving the trend are moratoriums on jury trials and booking restrictions at the Kitsap County Jail, both of which are attempts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the omicron variant surges.
Jury trials in Superior Court, which handles felonies, were set to resume Feb. 7. But on Monday they were suspended again — for the fifth time since March 2020 — and are now scheduled to resume Feb. 28. In the nearly two years since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Superior Court has held 15 criminal jury trials.
In the November case, Ervin is accused of driving a stolen 2003 Kia Spectra on SE Baker Road and causing a crash with another car, resulting in “substantial” injuries to the other driver.
In the case that was pending prior to the new charges, in March 2021, a man reported that his 1961 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, valued at about $50,000, and his 1961 Chevrolet Impala, valued at about $40,000, had been stolen from his garage. The Corvette was recovered the next day in Central Kitsap after a police chase. The driver was not caught.
The Impala was found the same day, concealed at a residence of Ervin’s family on the 7400 block of Bethel Burley Road, according to court documents.
Ervin pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on $10,000 bail but in June stopped showing up for court hearings, according to court documents.
In the case from last week, officers wrote in court documents that they were able to identify Ervin as the driver seen in the video by interviewing somebody Ervin left at the scene.
Also, after escaping the officers, Ervin is accused of driving to Belfair where he stole another car “by force” from a person who knew him and who also spoke with police, according to court documents.
No injuries on the officers were reported at the time, but in court documents filed Monday, an officer reported a back injury from his patrol vehicle being struck.
For the ramming case, prosecutors charged Ervin with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of hit and run, one count of reckless driving and one count of reckless endangerment.
Note: This story has been clarified to show that at the time of the ramming incident Ervin did not have a trial scheduled for the previous car theft-related charge. He had stopped showing up for court and his trial was canceled and was not rescheduled.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Car thief suspect in Port Orchard police car ramming was awaiting trial on another car theft case
