JOYCE — A Port Angeles man captured after he was bitten by the Port Angeles Police Department’s newest police dog remained in the Clallam County jail Thursday after allegedly leading police on a pursuit that approached 100 mph in a car that had been reported stolen.
Christopher Michael White, 23, was arrested at about 10:30 p.m. Monday after a quarter-mile search in the woods near the 200 block of Bishop Road, where Officer Lucas DeGand and his K-9 partner, Bogey, eventually caught up with him, said Brian Smith, deputy police chief.
White was treated and discharged from Olympic Medical Center for wounds on his right arm and booked into the jail Tuesday morning for investigation of one count each of eluding a police vehicle and possession of a stolen vehicle, two separate arrest warrants and a violation of community custody conditions placed on him by the state Department of Corrections.
Bogey’s and DeGand’s assistance was requested to help with the search alongside Clallam County sheriff’s deputies, State Patrol troopers and Lower Elwha Klallam tribal police, Smith said.
When a Lower Elwha Klallam officer tried to pull White over earlier in the evening, he took off, according to Deputy Shaun Minks’ arrest reported filed in Clallam County Superior Court, and the pursuit ended in the grass along Bishop Road, south of state Highway 112, after reaching speeds of up to 100 mph.
White abandoned the car with three women in it, Minks’ report said, adding that two of the women were arrested for investigation of a no-contact-order violation and possession of a controlled substance.
DeGand and Bogey tracked White past the back door of a trailer and finally into a stand of blackberry bushes, where White tried to hide, Smith said.
DeGand told White to come out and announced he had a police dog with him several times, Smith said, before DeGand “instructed the dog to make contact,” meaning the dog was allowed to bite White.
“Contact equals some level of injuries,” said Smith, adding that White ended up in a brief struggle with Bogey.
“[White] had some incisions and some abrasions, and maybe some contusions as a result of having contact with Bogey.”
Smith said the decision to allow Bogey to bite White was made based on the fact that White would not show his hands to officers when ordered and that he had just led police on a chase that endangered the general public.
Port Angeles police must file a use-of-force report documenting any injuries suspects suffer when police dogs are allowed to bite suspects, Smith explained.
White allegedly was driving a Chrysler New Yorker that had been stolen from Port Angeles on June 6, Smith said.
The person to whom the car belonged reportedly had been trying to sell it and allowed White to take it for a test-drive, Smith said.
White never returned with the car, Smith added, and the owner reported the car stolen to Port Angeles police Monday.
The car was recovered and returned to the owner, according to Minks’ report.
White’s arrest is the fifth DeGand and Bogey have assisted in since the two finished training last March, Smith said.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
