PORT ANGELES — A 71-year-old woman was arrested for investigation of second-degree assault and resisting arrest for allegedly ramming her sedan into an SUV in a fit of anger Tuesday afternoon in the Volunteer Field Parking lot.
The female SUV driver and her 14-year-old son were not injured in the collision, which was reported to authorities at about 4:50 p.m. Tuesday.
Helen Sue Corbin of Port Angeles, who describes herself as a grandmother on her Facebook page, will have a 1 p.m. hearing Friday in Superior Court for a formal filing of charges.
She was not listed on the Clallam County jail roster late Wednesday afternoon. Bail had been set at $2,000.
Her gold sedan was a total loss, according to a case report on the incident.
The SUV sustained more than $1,000 in rear-end damage, police said.
Corbin, a Lauridsen Boulevard resident, told police she was at the stop sign at L Street and Lauridsen when the SUV driver, turning on to L Street from Lauridsen, “said something to the effect, ‘Better watch out old lady!’ and flipped her off,” according to the case report.
Corbin said she followed the SUV to tell the driver to “show more respect,” yelling out her window at the driver in the parking lot before the SUV driver hit her car while going into a parking space.
The SUV driver told police said an “old lady” in a gold sedan was partially in the L Street-Lauridsen intersection, causing the SUV driver to make an extra wide turn to get around her.
The SUV driver said she looked at the sedan driver “and held up her arm to convey ‘what the heck.’ ”
Once in the parking lot, the SUV driver said Corbin “backed her car up behind her, revved her engine and rammed into her vehicle.”
Corbin’s statement was not consistent with damage sustained by the SUV and accounts of the incident by an eyewitness and the SUV driver, according to the case report.
After being told she was under arrest, Corbin refused to to get out of the vehicle, according to reporting officer Daniel Morse.
Morse “pulled her out of the vehicle,” and with assistance from county Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Moon, “was able to overcome her active physical resistance and and place her in handcuffs,” Morse said in the report.
Corbin allegedly tried to keep pulling away from the officers, who “placed Corbin up against the car and again I told her to stop resisting” before they “placed Corbin in the back of my patrol car,” Morse said.
Harry Gasnick of Clallam Public Defender, representing Corbin, said she had been the subject of a no-contact order and had appeared in court as required 25 times, asking that she be released on her own recognizance.
The allegations against Corbin are “concerning,” Judge Erik Rohrer said in setting bail.
“I’m not sure what to say about this, but is sounds like some road-rage thing gone bad, and I’m really worried about releasing Ms. Corbin on her own recognizance.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
