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DUI suspect flees during traffic stop, abandons passenger and child alone in car, and jumps off 50-foot cliff to evade police — but cops get their man anyway.
Photo by Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

DUI suspect flees during traffic stop, abandons passenger and child alone in car, and jumps off 50-foot cliff to evade police — but cops get their man anyway.

A Washington man led local authorities on a chase and ended up jumping from a 50-foot cliff to avoid being captured, according to reports.

Police, however, were still able to arrest the suspect and take him into custody on several related charges.

What are the details?

Deputies from the Yakima County Sheriff's Office received an early morning call on Sunday for reports that people were passed out in a vehicle that was stopped in the middle of a roadway.

When they responded to the scene, they discovered the 32-year-old suspect asleep in the car along with a sleeping passenger and a child who was in the backseat of the vehicle.

According to reports, the responding officers believed the driver was under the influence.

KEPR-TV reported that the suspect was wanted on multiple warrants, but did not specify the warrants' contents.

Officers attempted multiple times to wake the sleeping motorist and were successful, but the suspect then reportedly stepped on the gas and roared away from officers.

Deputies followed the suspect down Interstate 82, but the vehicle pursuit ended when the suspect reportedly began driving the wrong way down the interstate.

A second agency discovered that the suspect had abandoned his car — and its passengers — and had taken off on foot.

As the suspect neared the Yakima River, he came upon a 50-foot cliff. Apparently feeling he had no choice, the suspect jumped into the river below.

Despite the dramatic escape attempt, authorities along with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife were able to take the suspect into custody.

The female passenger and the child — who remain anonymous at the time of this reporting — were not harmed.

Authorities arrested the suspect on charges of reckless endangerment, eluding, and first-degree assault. He was booked into a local jail on the charges.

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