Underage CWU Student Accused In Police Pursuit, Making Threats To Kill Police Officer

An underage student at Central Washington University is facing numerous criminal charges after police say he led them on a vehicle pursuit upon being found in possession of alcohol and made threats to kill a law enforcement officer following his arrest.

The Ellensburg Daily Record says officers with the Ellensburg Police Department contacted 20-year-old Maxx Phrenick Estrada of Woodinville at around 1 a.m. on Sunday (April 19) after he was observed carrying an open container of alcohol while walking along North Greenfield Avenue.

Officers say Estrada displayed signs of intoxication and that he ran away from them after being verbally informed that he was under arrest and was waiting to be issued a written citation for illegally having the beverage.

Police say as they pursued Estrada on foot, he entered a parked vehicle and locked its doors - refusing officers commands to exit even as they made attempts to break the car's window.

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Estrada then reportedly drove away in the vehicle at a high rate of speed through crowded residential streets near to where a house party was just wrapping up.

Troopers with the Washington State Patrol say they spotted the vehicle about 30 minutes later on Interstate-90 and attempted a traffic stop, but Estrada continued to flee.

A short time later, the vehicle was found disabled on the front lawn of a home near the freeway, and police found Estrada hiding in some bushes nearby.

Estrada was arrested and during his transport to the Kittitas County Jail, reportedly kicked at both the windows and the seat partition of a squad car and made threats to kill the father of his ex-girlfriend, as well as the transporting officer by allegedly saying that he would find him using his badge number and shoot him "in the face with an AR-15."

During his processing at the jail, police say Estrada also repeatedly punched himself in the face and banged his head on a countertop before being placed in a holding cell where he then repeatedly punched its door.

Estrada was booked for felony harassment, minor in possession of alcohol, consumption of alcohol by a vehicle operator under the age of 21, and attempting to elude law enforcement.

At his initial appearance in Kittitas County Superior Court on Monday, Estrada's bail was set at $50,000 and according to jail records, remained incarcerated as of Thursday afternoon.