A Vancouver police K-9 named Midas jumped through the window of a gray Toyota to end a 40-minute standoff with a driver who officers say had been huffing compressed air behind the wheel. The driver, identified by police as Brandon Wells, refused to get out of the car after leading officers on a chase that ended when a tire-tethering device brought his vehicle to a stop, according to police.
The episode began on July 26 when 911 callers reported an allegedly impaired driver had passed out behind the wheel in Vancouver, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Officers responding to the call saw the man inhaling from a compressed-air canister, per police, before he fled in the Toyota. During the pursuit, the driver nearly drove through a person's front yard and struck a curb, according to the outlet's reporting by Tarek Anthony.
Vancouver police deployed a Grappler device to stop the fleeing car, firing a tether from the front of a cruiser that wraps around a rear wheel of the target vehicle. The device brought the pursuit to a controlled stop. Once the car was immobilized, Wells continued inhaling from the air canister and refused to leave the vehicle for more than 40 minutes, police said.
How the Grappler Brought the Chase to a Stop
The Grappler system is a relatively new addition to law enforcement in the region. The Clark County Sheriff's Office equipped 25 patrol vehicles with the Grappler Police Bumper in February 2025, becoming the third agency in Washington State and the first in Southwest Washington to deploy the tire-tethering device, according to KGW. The same outlet reported that Clark County law enforcement first used the device in an active chase that same month, disabling a fleeing driver's car on Northeast Plain Boulevard after the vehicle kept moving on flattened tires.
Hoodline has covered several recent cases in which the technology played a role, including a 80 mph chase through Battle Ground and a December pursuit that ended with a Grappler deployment against a fleeing burglary suspect in Vancouver. The device's growing regional footprint reflects an effort by Clark County agencies to end high-speed pursuits without prolonged chases through neighborhood streets.
Standoff Ends With K-9 Through the Window
With Wells still refusing to exit the car, police used less-lethal chemical munitions and pepperballs before Midas ultimately jumped through the driver's window. Police body camera footage showed Wells screaming while wrestling with the dog, according to police, and Midas landed on an apparently disoriented Wells during the struggle. No injuries were reported in the incident, and officers ultimately arrested Wells.
Midas is a Slovakian-born German Shepherd assigned to Vancouver Police Officer Sean Suarez. The dual-certified patrol and detection team completed 600 hours of training before entering active service in 2021, according to the City of Vancouver. The department's K-9 unit operates out of the patrol division, works alongside the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT Team, and relies in part on donations to the Vancouver Police Department K9 Fund to purchase working dogs. Outside of tactical callouts, Midas has made public appearances around Clark County, including at the Historic Trust's Summer Family Series last August.
Charges and the Legal Question of Huffing While Driving
Wells faced charges of attempting to elude, driving under the influence, reckless driving and resisting arrest, according to police. Under Washington's felony eluding statute, RCW 46.61.024, willfully refusing to stop and driving recklessly while fleeing a pursuing patrol vehicle is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and mandatory license revocation, per state law.
The DUI charge stems from Washington's broader impaired-driving statute. Under RCW 46.61.502 and 46.61.540, driving under the influence applies to chemical inhalants ingested or inhaled for intoxicating effects, including compressed air, with charges resting on physical evidence of impairment rather than a specific blood-concentration threshold, according to the Maxey Law Office. Clark County Jail records showed Wells had since been released.
Impaired Driving Remains a Persistent Problem Statewide
The case lands amid a broader statewide conversation about impaired driving. Statewide traffic fatalities involving impaired drivers fell from 370 in 2024 to a preliminary 297 in 2025, representing 45% of all traffic deaths in Washington, according to data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission reported by Seattle Weekly. Alcohol remains the primary substance in fatal impaired-driving crashes statewide at 57%, followed by cannabis at 22% and methamphetamine at 8%, per the same state data.
Washington lawmakers have also moved to deter drivers who flee police. House Bill 2390, introduced during the 2023-2024 legislative session, would authorize law enforcement to impound and pursue forfeiture of vehicles used by drivers convicted of felony eluding under RCW 46.61.024. The measure underscores a statewide push to discourage pursuits like the one that ended with Midas going through a car window on a Vancouver street.
