PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man has been sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle.
Jesse James Johns, 36, was sentenced on Nov. 7 after he was arrested on Sept. 24, following an incident on Sept. 13.
He remained in the Clallam County jail on Tuesday, with the prosecuting attorney saying more charges are pending.
Port Angeles police officers investigated a report on Sept. 13 about a motorhome in the 800 block of Boathaven Drive in Port Angeles that was not welcome on port property. The driver was described as possibly intoxicated, according to Deputy Chief Jason Viada.
The arriving officer discovered via a computer check that Johns had an arrest warrant for a violation of a domestic violence no-contact order, and after several officers arrived, Johns was told to get out of the vehicle. Instead, he sped off at a high rate of speed, Viada said.
During a short pursuit on the Tumwater Truck Route, officers said they saw him drive in the wrong lane and unsuccessfully used lights and siren to attempt to get the driver to stop. Given safety concerns, the patrol supervisor directed officers to terminate the pursuit.
The investigating officer notified area law enforcement that she had probable cause to arrest Johns, although “given the subject’s successful flight from officers they were unable to follow up, investigate and establish probable cause to arrest for the crime of driving under the influence,” Viada said.
On Sept. 24, a Clallam County deputy told emergency dispatchers that he was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on the 100 block of Lower Dam Road and that he had located the motorhome parked in a secluded area, Viada said.
More deputies and officers with the Port Angeles and Lower Elwha police departments arrived, located Johns in a nearby vehicle and told him to get out of it. He didn’t and was forcibly removed, Viada said.
Johns was taken to Olympic Medical Center, examined and cleared for incarceration and then booked into the Clallam County jail.
Charges were filed Sept. 26.
An earlier charge against Johns had been dismissed on March 7, Viada said, adding that it was “due to a technicality and he was released from jail.”
He had been charged then with two counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a short-barrelled shotgun and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, fentanyl, all felonies.
