‘I Slashed His Tires.’ Body Cam Footage Shows Game Warden Running Down Salmon Thieves Who Broke into a Hatchery

An officer with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police made a daring bust at the Cowlitz River Salmon Hatchery during the wee hours on Sunday, apprehending six young men who allegedly broke into the hatchery to catch and steal fish. This action-packed body-cam footage acquired by Outdoor Life shows how WDFW officer Blaine Corey chased down the young men and slashed a tire on their truck after the driver nearly struck him.

The six males were later apprehended by local police, according to court documents acquired by The Chronicle. The local newspaper reports that four of the males were minors, and they were booked into the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center within hours of being apprehended on Sept. 29. The other two males, 18-year-old Roman Tymoshuk and 21-year-old Timothy A. Gubarik, were booked into the Lewis County Jail just before 5 a.m. Sunday.

WDFW shared an account of the arrest with NW Sportsman Magazine. The agency said WDFW officer Blaine Corey was working at the Cowlitz River Salmon Hatchery when he spotted five suspects walking through the complex with fishing rods around 2:15 a.m. The suspects fled and jumped a fence when Corey approached, and one of them slipped and fell while running away from the fish hatchery. 

This is where the body-cam footage begins, with the timestamp showing it is just past 2:17 a.m. Corey apprehends a 15-year-old suspect who had fallen while the other suspects drive away in a red Ford truck. After asking if the kid is okay, Corey tells him he’s under arrest.

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“So they’re gonna leave ya?” Corey asks of the teen’s buddies, who keep driving.

“Probably,” the suspect replies.

The footage then jumps to 2:21 a.m. As Corey calls in the 15-year-old’s arrest, the truck carrying the other suspects drives back in his direction. The truck rolls to a stop and the person in the rear driver’s side seat swings open his door, presumably to allow his buddy to hop back in. The passenger seems to realize Corey is standing there, however, and quickly shuts the door again. Corey instructs the suspects to stop but the truck drives away as Corey calls in the license plate and gives a description of the vehicle. 

Roughly 40 seconds later, the truck turns around again. This exchange isn’t included in the provided footage, but Corey was reportedly still standing in the middle of the road in an attempt to halt the vehicle. When it didn’t stop, WDFW said, Corey had to step out of the way of the truck.

“If Officer Corey had still been standing there, the vehicle would have struck him,” WDFW told NW Sportsman.

The body-cam footage resumes with Corey standing on one side of the road as the 15-year-old suspect stands on the other side. The truck comes to a sudden stop between them, possibly to allow the 15-year-old to hop in on the right side of the truck. Corey acts quickly, pulling his knife and puncturing the truck’s left rear tire. The hissing sound of the deflating tire is audible as the truck drives away.

“Yeah, he’s taking off out of the hatchery right now with a flat tire,” Corey tells dispatch.

The body-cam footage then cuts to 3:38 a.m., just minutes after the suspects in the Ford were apprehended by Lewis County Sheriff’s deputies. The clip shows Corey and other law enforcement officers cuffing and speaking with three of the young men. (All six were arrested without further incident.) At one point, Gubarik and another young man laugh about the tire and give Corey credit for his quick thinking with a knife.

“It was a smart move,” a suspect tells Corey, “[You have an] 8,000 IQ, man. I’ll give that to you, boss.”

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The Chronicle reports that Tymoshuk and Gubarik were charged in Lewis County Superior Court the following day, Sept. 30, with one count each of second-degree burglary and attempted third-degree theft. Gubarik, who was driving the truck at the time, faces additional charges of second-degree assault, obstructing a law enforcement officer, and attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.

Tymoshuk was released Monday on $10,000 bail, according to The Chronicle, while Gubarik’s bail was set at $75,000 because the judge considered him “a threat to community safety.”

Because records for juvenile cases are protected in Washington State, the identities of the minors involved have not been released, and it is unknown what repercussions they could face. The public release of this body-cam footage also comes a little over a month after WDFW announced that every game warden would be getting body cameras at the agency’s request. WDFW’s chief of law enforcement Steve Bear told Outdoor Life in August that these cameras would help provide clarity to situations and strengthen the evidence that could be used in court.