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Footprints in snow lead police to man who drove through fence in stolen van

SEATTLE — Footprints in the snow led police officers to a man accused of driving through a fence at a SODO business in a stolen van.

At around 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Seattle police officers tried to pull over a white van on South Andover Street at Seventh Avenue. The vehicle had a stolen license plate.

Instead of pulling over, police said the driver rammed the van through a business’s chain-link fence. He then backed into a Seattle police vehicle before driving away with at least one flat tire.

Eventually, the driver abandoned the running van on railroad tracks at West Marginal Way Southwest and Southwest Alaska Street.

Though the driver was not inside when officers found the van, footprints in the snow led police to a 40-year-old man sitting on a park bench.

Mail belonging to the man was found inside the stolen van.

The man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for investigation of eluding police, possession of a stolen vehicle and malicious mischief.