Police Use Ladder Crane To Lift Assault Suspect From Steep Hillside

An assault suspect gave several Wenatchee Police Department officers quite a tumble when they attempted to arrest him Tuesday morning.

The case began on Monday when police received reports that a man was pointing a realistic-looking BB gun at passersby in the 1400 block of South Wenatchee Avenue. It was later reported that the same suspect had pistol-whipped someone in the face with the weapon.

The following day, officers went to the location, located the suspect - 41-year-old Bertin Torres-Manzanares, and placed him under arrest.

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Capt. Edgar Reinfeld says Manzanares then resisted officers and tried to abscond.

"Once he was in custody and in handcuffs, he attempted to flee and pulled himself off the pathway where officers were leading him and fell down a very steep hillside - dragging officers behind him. Officers went down the hill with him and fell thirty to forty feet down the hillside."

Reinfeld says neither Manzanares nor any of the officers who fell down the hillside suffered significant injuries.

"Everybody came out of it pretty much uninjured, just some minor scrapes. It was pretty surprising considering the hillside - it's a steep hillside. Thankfully it's mostly grassy and soft brush and not a rocky mess."

After taking the fall, Manzaneres was subdued and the Wenatchee Valley Fire Department was called in to lower a litter from one of their ladder trucks to retrieve him.

He was booked into the Chelan County Regional Justice Center on charges of assault and resisting arrest.