SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane Police Department arrested a man walking around downtown Spokane with a gun after identifying him as a convicted felon.
However, their initial attempt to arrest him resulted in a car chase and a search for his weapon, which he disposed of during his escape attempt.
Richard Tomich was initially observed walking around downtown around 4 p.m. by an undercover police officer with the Spokane Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, according to the officer’s testimony from court documents.
After the officer positively identified Tomich by comparing a photo of him to his record and by running the license plate on Tomich’s vehicle, he observed the pistol on Tomich’s hip. It was a revolver.
The undercover officer asked another officer on patrol to stop Tomich. Tomich had returned to his car with a woman who sat in the passenger seat.
An officer in a fully marked Spokane Police Department SUV pulled Tomlich over near South McClellan Street. When the officer got out of the car to confront Tomlich, Tomlich hit the gas again and drove off.
Tomlich nearly hit several cars and pedestrians as he attempted to flee through downtown and ran through a stop sign, according to police testimony in court documents.
Eventually, officers found the vehicle parked at East 17th Avenue and South Hatch Street. They found the woman from the passenger seat walking nearby and she told officers that Tomlich was hiding in the trees.
Another undercover officer who was in the area headed to the parked vehicle and noticed a man who appeared red-faced and sweaty at a nearby house with several large bags.
The officer called for a drone unit and a K9 team to set a perimeter and police teams arrested the man and confirmed that he was Tomlich.
Officers also seized the bags Tomlich had brought with him, which were filled with cash and round containers.
Inside the bags, officers counted $6,329, 125.2 grams of fentanyl, 80.9 grams of methamphetamine, 32 Clonazepam pills, four scales, a weight and two switchblades.
Tomlich had thrown away the revolver, which officers found later while searching the area.
Tomlich was charged with attempting to elude a police vehicle, possession with intent for methamphetamines and fentanyl, unlawful possession of a firearm first degree, two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a controlled substance.
