PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County Superior Court judge set $10,000 bail Thursday for a Port Angeles man who allegedly ran from a State Patrol trooper after he was pulled over for having an unsecured load in his pickup truck Wednesday afternoon.
William J. Sybertz, 38, was arrested for investigation of multiple charges in a wooded ravine east of Port Angeles near Roosevelt Elementary School, 106 Monroe Road.
He allegedly told a trooper that he had a firearm as he fled.
Authorities found a knife in one of Sybertz’s pockets but no firearm.
Judge S. Brooke Taylor set bail as requested by Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall in Sybertz’s initial court appearance.
Sybertz will be charged at his next court hearing Tuesday at 1 p.m.
He remained in the Clallam County jail Thursday night for investigation of intimidating a public officer, second-degree driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest, obstructing a law enforcement officer and violating a no-contact order.
Sybertz also had four warrants for domestic violence and driving under the influence, Port Angeles police said.
A State Patrol trooper said he saw four large banana boxes fly off the Ford pickup truck that Sybertz was driving on U.S. Highway 101 near Brook Avenue at 4:22 p.m.
Court papers give the following account:
Sybertz turned left onto Monroe Road with the trooper in pursuit. He got out of his vehicle near a locked gate on the school grounds and ran westbound.
A woman on the other side of a chain-link fence yelled for Sybertz to run, troopers said.
The woman, who later identified Sybertz, told a trooper that Sybertz had been driving her parents’ truck. She later said she was telling the trooper to run, not Sybertz.
Sybertz was ordered to stop before the trooper activated his stun gun, which malfunctioned as Sybertz ran with his left hand in a jacket pocket.
A man tried to intercept Sybertz and joined the trooper in pursuit.
“As we passed by the corner of the building, the suspect said something to the effect of that he had a gun and stop chasing me,” the trooper wrote in the investigation narrative.
The trooper and the good Samaritan stopped their pursuit and watched Sybertz hop over a chain-link fence.
Port Angeles police, other troopers, Clallam County deputies and Border Patrol agents formed a perimeter around the area and waited for a city K-9 unit to arrive.
The police dog Jag led two troopers and two city police officers to Sybertz, who was hiding under branches, brush and debris.
Sybertz surrendered at 5:26 p.m.
He told troopers he ran because he did not want to go to jail.
