On the morning of Friday, Dec. 5, a handcuffed man was mistaken for a student at Kentwood High School and was put into an office with two female students during a lockdown.

“It was a mistake, no doubt about it,” said Chris Loftis, spokesperson for the Kent School District.

Minutes before the man, a 19-year-old former Kentwood student, was rushed into the office, he was pulled over near the 164th Avenue traffic light by a King County Sheriff’s Deputy for speeding on school property. The officer had asked the man to slow down on his way into the school’s student drop off area. After he dropped off his siblings, the deputy observed the man speed away again and pulled him over, according to Kevin Klason, Covington Police Chief.

After the deputy discovered the man was driving with a suspended license, she handcuffed him and started walking him to her vehicle, said Sgt. DB Gates, spokeswoman for the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Gates said the suspect fled while the deputy was unlocking her door. The officer gave chase but was outrun by the suspect.

The school went into lockdown, but the suspect was already in the building, according to Loftis.

Loftis said Jo Anne Daughtry, the athletic and activities director, saw the man in the hallway near the gymnasium wearing a jacket that had fallen off his shoulders and was draped over his hands. Daughtry put the man in her office, thinking he was a student.

When reached by phone, Daughtry declined to comment.

Mike Smith, a parent of a student at Kentwood, wrote an email to The Reporter that stated his daughter, Jessica, and another female student were in the office at the time the suspect was ushered in.

Both Loftis and Smith said the suspect told the students he was the reason the school was in a lockdown, and then asked them to call his mother for him.

Then, a few minutes later, three more students were put into the office, according to Smith.

Loftis confirmed the suspect was in the office with five students for a duration of about 10-12 minutes and no threats were made to the students.

“He admitted to them that he was in trouble and he asked them for help,” Lofits said.

Smith said in a phone interview with The Reporter that he was very unhappy with the way the school handled the entire situation.

“They gave him every chance to hurt people,” he said.

Loftis said, as a parent himself, he understood Smith’s frustration.

He said if it was one of his kids in the office, he “would be absolutely livid about it.”

Loftis said the entire incident, from the time the man was pulled over to the time he was put back into police custody, lasted about 15 minutes.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, was ultimately arrested for driving with a suspended license in the third degree and escape in the third degree. Both violations are misdemeanors.

Editor’s note: After publication, Kent School District spokesperson Chris Loftis made a statement in response to this article.