Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter | Gig Harbor woman dies in collision in Gorst

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police , Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Erika Perkins, 46, of Gig Harbor died in a collision on Highway 16 in Gorst on Oct. 9. 

Perkins was a passenger in a Chevy Trailblazer going west on the highway, near the site of a former Mattress Ranch store. The Trailblazer, driven by a 61-year-old Bremerton man, crashed into the ditch at about 2:30 p.m. 

Aid crews took Perkins to St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale, where she died. 

The 61-year-old driver also was treated at St. Michaels. Potential criminal charges against him involving distracted driving are pending, according to the Washington State Patrol. 

Suspect believed responsible for $35,500 worth of thefts

Gig Harbor Police chased but could not apprehend a shoplifting suspect at the Fred Meyer on Point Fosdick Drive on Sept. 4.

Store security noticed the 30-year-old suspect in the store and called police. They told responding officers that a corporate database indicates the same man was responsible for stealing $35,500 worth of merchandise from stores around the region.

The suspect fled in a silver BMW before police arrived. Officers caught up to him on Highway 16, but gave up the pursuit after he crossed the Narrows Bridge. The license plate on the BMW returned to a Nissan, meaning both the vehicle and the plate were likely stolen.

The suspect is also the subject of arrest warrants from Centralia, Issaquah, Kent, Bonney Lake and Pierce County. 

Car crashes into new city park

A vehicle plowed into a fence surrounding the pickleball courts at the city of Gig Harbor’s new Doris Heritage Park on the evening of Oct. 2.

Thanks in part to surveillance footage from the nearby Tom Taylor YMCA, police identified a dark-colored sedan as the culprit. Footage also showed a white pickup towing the sedan out of the fence and ditch shortly after. 

Police later located the driver, who had attempted to hide the sedan inside a storage unit.

Officers referred the case to city prosecutors for possible charges of hit and run.

Deputy arrests man for impersonating an officer 

A Pierce County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested a man suspected of impersonating a police office on the Key Peninsula on Oct. 5.

According to a blog post from the sheriff’s office, the suspect had blue flashing lights on his vehicle and appeared to be trying to pull vehicles over.

The deputy had already spoken to the suspect earlier in the day, when he noticed the vehicle and its lights in a parking lot. The deputy warned him then that he could be arrested for impersonating an officer. 

Gig Harbor man killed in Tacoma shooting 

A Gig Harbor man was shot and killed in Tacoma on Sept. 21, according to the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The office said that Dustin Carter, 49, died of a gunshot wound to the chest and cited homicide as the manner of death. 

According to The News Tribune newspaper of Tacoma, Carter died following an argument over possession of a drug pipe. Two other people also were shot during the incident but survived.

A 28-year-old man pleaded not guilty to several charges, including second-degree murder. 

The Medical Examiner’s Office listed Gig Harbor as Carter’s home. A GoFundMe established to benefit his children indicates that he had ties to South Carolina.