Two men nabbed after allegedly ramming into senior home’s garage doors

Two Tacoma men were booked on multiple charges after they allegedly drove into two garage doors of a senior living home in Lacey.

Lacey police arrested Eric Taylor Criss and Dylan James Hedrick, both 29, on March 5 after a security guard for an apartment complex across the senior home reported witnessing the alleged crime.

The security guard wrote in his witness statement that the suspects, driving a green Acura Integra and a silver Honda CRV, pulled into his place of work and attempted to use the keypad to gain access to the main gate, but failed.

The two then drove over to the senior home across the street, the witness said, and the Integra driver parked the vehicle there while the CRV driver pulled around to the garages.

“[He] started bashing in two of the garage doors with the back of the CRV,” the security guard wrote. “The driver was wearing dark pants and a light-colored hoodie. He was getting in and out of the CRV to see if he could get into the garages.”

The CRV driver later parked his vehicle by the Integra and walked back to the garages and went inside, according to the witness.

Another witness, a man living across the senior home, said he saw “multiple people and two cars that appeared to be doing [something] with the garage.” He also said he saw a third suspect run away from the scene as cops arrived.

Police found both vehicles in a parking lot next to the damaged garage doors.

Authorities confirmed that the Honda CRV, allegedly driven by Criss, was reported stolen out of Olympia. The Acura was registered under Hedrick’s name.

Criss was immediately detained without incident. He initially told police that he was in the area to “meet a girl” and denied any involvement with the damaged garage doors, claiming that he had never been inside the CRV.

Police located a bag of tools by one of the damaged garage doors and brought it over to Criss, who claimed that the bag had been inside the garages.

As law enforcement waited for the registered owner of the CRV to arrive at the scene, they saw a male walking nearby. He was later identified as Hedrick.

Hedrick told police that he believed Criss accidentally hit one of the garage doors. He denied being near the garages and said he had no idea what Criss was doing because he was parked around the corner.

Both suspects were positively identified by the security guard as the men he saw driving the vehicles.

The owner of the senior living home said he would press charges against the suspects.

Criss was booked at the Thurston County Jail for second-degree burglary, third-degree theft, and possession of a stolen vehicle. Hedrick was booked for second-degree burglary and second-degree malicious mischief.

It was not clear from the police report whether there was indeed a third suspect or if one has been arrested since that date.