PORT ANGELES — No one was injured when a man led Port Angeles police officers on a 15-mile pursuit that began in southwest Port Angeles and ended in the Carlsborg area, police said.
Robert Earl Manley, Jr., 57, hometown unknown, was booked into the Clallam County jail on Monday and later released for investigation of DUI-drugs, eluding a police vehicle and third-degree driving while license suspended.
He was released Tuesday morning by arrangement of the Clallam County prosecuting attorney’s office.
“There is a DUI component” to the possible charges, and prosecutors need to have test results before they can consider making formal charges, said Steve Johnson, deputy assistant prosecuting attorney, on Tuesday.
The state toxicology lab “has been taking 12 to 14 months” to provide results, he said, and charges will not be considered until those results are in hand.
Port Angeles police officers reported that they investigated at 9 a.m. Monday a report of a driver slumped over the wheel of a car that was stopped and blocking traffic near Lauridsen Boulevard and Laurel Street.
This is the police report about the chase:
When officers arrived to evaluate the driver, he drove off.
Officers used “pursuit intervention techniques” — which, they said, require specialized training on a controlled raceway — at both Fifth and Albert streets and First and Alder streets, but the driver continued fleeing eastbound.
Then officers attempted a third intervention technique on U.S. Highway 101 near Sunny Farms Country Store that stopped the pursuit. The vehicle set fire to the grass beneath it, but officers extinguished it, they said.
Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Jason Viada said the pursuit was at high speeds only on Highway 101.
“One of the reasons we waited for a third (pursuit intervention technique) is the speeds have to be low enough for it to be safe enough,” he said.
Viada said when using the techniques, several variables are at work, such as how determined the person is to get away.
“One thing that can be important is if he is really determined, you have to get him in after you do the (pursuit intervention technique),” Viada said.
The driver was processed at Olympic Medical Center and booked into jail on charges of DUI-drugs, eluding a police vehicle and third-degree driving while license suspended. He later was released by the prosecutor.
Three Port Angeles police cars were damaged during the incident; one was pulled from service.
Officers who apply “pursuit intervention techniques” are trained at a Kitsap County race track implementing real-world scenarios using a process that requires certified instructors, specially equipped vehicles and testing. Not all Port Angeles police officers have received this training but will receive it at some point.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
