PORT ANGELES –– The man mistakenly set free by Clallam County prosecutors Monday following a Sunday night arrest for allegedly assaulting a sheriff’s deputy turned himself into the county jail shortly before 10 a.m. today.
After an all-night manhunt by law enforcement across the Peninsula, Matthew K. McDaniel, 27, walked into the lobby of the jail Wednesday morning where he was arrested and booked, according to Chief Corrections Deputy Ron Sukert.
McDaniel now awaits a first appearance in court after prosecutors Tuesday filed a charge of third-degree assault on a police officer, a Class C felony, for a Sunday night altercation at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim.
Judge S. Brooke Taylor issued a warrant and fixed a $10,000 bond for McDaniel when the charges were filed Tuesday.
“Everybody was out looking for him all night,” Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron said.
Law enforcement agencies at the city, county and state levels were alerted that McDaniel was wanted and on the loose Tuesday night, Cameron said.
McDaniel was arrested for allegedly shoving Deputy Mark Millet. Millet was reportedly trying to evict McDaniel from the parking lot in front of the park, where the suspect was sleeping in his vehicle shortly before midnight Sunday. The park closes at dusk.
McDaniel allegedly shoved and shouted obscenities at Millet before the confrontation ended with Millet deploying his Taser on McDaniel.
Prosecutors, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mark Nichols said Tuesday, made a “mistake” in ordering McDaniel’s release Monday.
An unusually heavy case load of weekend arrests, coupled with short-staffing in the prosecutor’s office, forced a deputy normally assigned to the office’s civil division, which represents the county and its agencies and officials, to work on criminal cases.
McDaniel was released with the intent of charging him at a later date.
In a phone call Monday night, McDaniel told the PDN he recently lost his job as a welder and has been living out of his vehicle.
Nichols said that the McDaniel should have been charged or kept in jail on a 72-hour hold.
Investigators reported they found a loaded Springfield XD .40 caliber pistol with 16 rounds of ammunition, along with evidence of alcohol and marijuana, while searching McDaniel’s car after they impounded it.
