A 22-year-old Port Angeles man was arrested for investigation of eluding a police officer after he was caught with the help of a police dog early today.
Marc D. Kellen was found hiding near a barbed-wire fence near Edgewood Drive west of Critchfield Road after a pursuit earlier this morning, said the Port Angeles Police Department in a prepared statement.
He appeared to have been injured in a motorcycle crash, police said, and was taken to Olympic Medical Center to be checked before he was discharged and booked into the Clallam County jail.
He is being held on a $18,000 bond for investigation of felony eluding a police officer, driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a suspended license, as well as several outstanding warrants for failure to appear.
The police gave this account:
At about 1:05 a.m. today, Port Angeles Officers Andrew Neisinger and Glenn Wood were on Fairmont Avenue and Glenwood Road when a motorcycle drove passed them northbound at a high rate of speed — estimated to be 70 mph in a 45 mph zone.
They attempted to stop the motorcycle which turned left and traveled west on West Lauridsen Boulevard.
At the intersection of Lauridsen Boulevard and Airport Road, officers lost sight of the motorcycle and discontinued the pursuit.
They put out a description of the motorcycle and operator and, with the assistance of the Lower Elwha tribal police, searched the area.
Neisinger found fresh vehicle debris on Edgewood Drive west of Critchfield Road.
Officers contained the area while Cpl. Kevin Miller and police dog Jag began tracking, eventually finding Kellen.
Officers later found a heavily damaged motorcycle in a tree line near the area where Miller and Jag had begun their search.
The motorcycle was towed from the scene.
This was Jag and Corporal Miller’s third capture in two and a half weeks, the police department said.
