Woman Tased after freeway confrontation

A Washington State Patrol trooper shot a woman with a Taser when she became aggressive after he found her walking along Interstate 90.

The confrontation happened about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday on the westbound lanes of I-90, Trooper Jeff Merrill said.

The altercation was similar to one that ended fatally on Christmas Day, when Trooper S. Michael Cheek shot and killed Aaron Larson, 28, during a fight.

Cheek was the trooper who responded to calls reporting a man had jumped out of a car on a freeway exit ramp from Interstate 5 in Federal Way and was pounding on other vehicles.

Larson and Cheek fought in the freeway, and the trooper first tried to subdue Larson with a Taser. When that failed, he ended up shooting the man.

The case is being investigated by Federal Way police. Cheek remains on leave and Larson's father has said he plans to sue.

In Wednesday's incident, motorists began calling to report a woman walking along the right lane of the freeway. The woman was stepping into the freeway lanes, along the shoulder, and was walking with her back to oncoming traffic, Merrill said.

"She was really completely oblivious to the cars coming up behind her," he said. "She's lucky she didn't get hit."

A trooper soon caught up to the woman, who is believed to have walked for more than a mile along the freeway.

When the trooper activated his emergency lights, the woman jumped over a concrete barrier and onto a designated pedestrian path.

The trooper stopped and tried to talk with her, but the woman jumped back onto the freeway and began yelling at him.

"She was screaming, swearing, just really agitated," Merrill said. "It didn't make a lot of sense what she was saying."

Because the woman was behaving so aggressively, the trooper called for backup, then shot the woman with his Taser when she failed to calm down.

The powerful jolt brought the woman down and the trooper was able to take her into custody. The 37-year-old Seattle woman was taken to Harborview Medical Center and was expected to undergo a mental health evaluation.