Man charged with kidnapping passenger after police pursuit

Crashes into three patrol cars during getaway attempt

Posted

Prosecutors have leveled seven felony charges against a driver accused of fleeing police in a stolen truck while towing a stolen trailer and keeping his passenger prisoner at gunpoint.

Trenton Louis Seykora is accused of crashing into three deputy patrol cars while trying to escape from deputies down a logging road north of Quilcene.

Seykora made his first appearance in Jefferson County Superior Court on Friday, Jan. 27.

He is facing charges of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, first-degree possession of stolen property, attempting to elude a police vehicle, and driving under the influence, as well as two additional charges of second-degree malicious mischief.

Seykora, 26, was identified as a “transient” in court papers who lives in Jefferson and Clallam counties.

A passenger in the pickup, whom authorities allege was behind the wheel during part of the police chase, has also been charged.

Joseph Gregory Gaikowski, 37, told deputies he would have pulled over but claimed Seykora started waiving around a semi-automatic pistol as police tried to stop the truck.  

Gaikowski, who lives in Quilcene, was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle and third-degree driving with a suspended license.

In Jefferson County Superior Court Friday, Deputy Prosecutor Melissa Pleimann recounted Seykora’s criminal history, which included 20 warrants for his arrest and charges that are still pending in Washington courts.

Pleimann said the pair “appeared to have been on a crime spree over the last couple of days with incident reports still rolling in.”

She asked Superior Court Judge Keith Harper to set bail at $250,000.

Scott Charlton, the court-appointed public defender for Seykora, wondered aloud at the prosecutor’s representation of his client’s record.

“We’re not here for sentencing,” he said.

Charlton asked that bail be set at a reasonable amount.

“To justify a quarter of a million dollars bail ... I don’t have words for it,” he said.

Harper, however, said Seykora had a “zero chance” of showing up in court when he was supposed to, or complying with court orders.

“This offense is one of the most serious offenses, combined, alleged, that I can recall,” Harper said. 

“It’s fortunate that nobody has been reported dead yet,” the judge added.

Harper followed the prosecution’s recommendation, calling the circumstances “extraordinary,” and set bail at $250,000.

ANOTHER CRIMINAL PAST

Gaikowski also had an extensive criminal history, with charges of theft, possession of stolen property, bail jumping, possession of a stolen vehicle, and firearm thefts.

Pleimann said he had
56 arrest warrants in his history, with two active ones out of Kitsap County and Centralia.

Prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $20,000.

But Julian St. Marie, Gaikowski’s attorney, said her client was “clearly a victim in this case.”

“I find it puzzling that Mr. Gaikowski is charged at all,” she added.

She asked that Gaikowski be released on his personal recognizance.

Harper said he didn’t see “any evidence of any big crime spree” but noted Gaikowski’s extensive history of warrants.

The judge set bail at $10,000.

Seykora and Gaikowski will be arraigned on the felony charges Friday in Superior Court.

TIPPED OFF

Authorities said they learned that Seykora — who was wanted on four active arrest warrants in Jefferson and Clallam counties — had been seen in Quilcene last Tuesday in a Dodge Ram dually pickup truck that was pulling a dump trailer.

A sheriff’s deputy found the truck on Highway 101 in Quilcene near East Columbia Street and tried to pull it over, but the driver sped away on US 101 northbound.

The truck continued north, and deputies broke off the pursuit.

SMASH AND DASH

One of the deputies, however, started down Leland Valley Road West, in case the fleeing driver had pulled off the highway. He soon saw the Dodge headed toward him on the road, but it turned onto a logging road that had no way out. When the deputy got to the truck, he ordered the driver out of the truck and pulled out his pistol, according to court documents.

The driver — later identified as Seykora — went into the ditch to try to get past the patrol vehicle but smashed into the back of the vehicle, then continued onward.

Seykora then came upon another deputy who had put spike strips on the road, but went into the ditch again and went around the obstacle.

Another deputy was in a patrol car in front of Seykora as he continued to try to escape, and Seykora allegedly started smashing into the rear of the patrol car while continuing to accelerate as he tried to get away.

Seykora collided with the police car multiple times, shattering the rear window.

In the probable cause report for his arrest, a deputy wrote Seykora put a deputy’s life “in great danger being pushed at high speeds down the one-lane logging road with huge trees and steep embankments.”

Seykora continued to crash into the police vehicle for a mile until the deputy turned away.

Another spike strip took out one tire on the Dodge, but Seykora turned back onto the highway and kept driving until the front wheel “fell apart” near Bolton Road, according to court documents.

Seykora kept driving down Boulton Road, and eventually bolted from the truck and ran into the woods just before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

He was later found hiding in the forest.

SHIFTING BLAME

A passenger in the truck, Gaikowski, told deputies that Seykora had showed up at his home two days earlier with the truck, and claimed it was owned by his aunt.

Gaikowski also said that Seykora had come over to his house earlier that day towing a dump trailer, and said he needed to get gravel to fix his driveway after tearing it up with the pickup.

The pair then went to Quilcene to get gravel and get a trailer tire repaired, but eventually parked the rig for two hours to take a nap.

Gaikowski said he woke up first and wanted to go home, so he got in the driver’s seat, but Seykora wanted to stop in Quilcene for food once he woke up.

Gaikowski also told deputies that when a deputy tried to pull them over, Seykora pulled out a handgun and began waving it around, ordering Gaikowski to keep driving.

When fleeing north on US 101, Gaikowski said Seykora reached over to put the pickup on cruise control while they switched seats.

Gaikowski also said Seykora started talking about shooting himself and was afraid that he would also be shot.

Seykora allegedly blamed Gaikowski for his troubles, and said they had purchased a large amount of Fentanyl pills earlier, and he had been smoking Fentanyl in the morning before fleeing from deputies.

Gaikowski had earlier been seen driving the Dodge pickup, and a witness reported confronting them after he found them on his property near Discovery Bay. Deputies learned the truck had been reported stolen by someone in Clallam County in a social media post, and Seykora said Gaikowski had been talking earlier about the truck and was the one who stole it.