A woman with an untreated infectious case of tuberculosis and a months-old civil warrant out for her arrest continues to evade the sheriff's departmen

Woman with untreated TB still on the lam three months after arrest warrant

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2023-05-23 21:00:06

A woman with an untreated infectious case of tuberculosis and a months-old civil warrant out for her arrest continues to evade the sheriff's department in Tacoma, Washington, drawing local frustration.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Philip Sorensen ruled once again Friday that the woman—known only by the initials "V.N." in court documents—was in contempt of those court orders. Sorensen had initially issued a civil arrest warrant on March 2, 2023, ordering her to involuntary detention for testing and treatment. He extended the warrant Friday.

In an opinion piece on Saturday, Matt Driscoll, the opinion editor for local outlet The News Tribune, wrote that the situation has "far surpassed" the "point of ridiculousness." Driscoll called out local law enforcement for not apprehending the woman after lengthy efforts to get her to comply with health measures and nearly three months after Sorensen issued the arrest warrant.

"[T]he time for excuses has passed," he wrote, calling the woman's case "a unique and potentially dangerous rarity that Pierce County’s public health system and the courts provide a remedy for."