PORT ANGELES — A 26-year-old Port Angeles man has been charged with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle for an alleged high-speed chase through residential neighborhoods.
Christopher Michael White is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Friday. He is being held in the Clallam County jail on $50,000 bail and a state Department of Corrections hold.
White was charged in Clallam County Superior Court on Tuesday with single counts of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle and violating a domestic violence no contact order.
The DOC warrant was for escaping community custody, police said.
Early Monday
White, who had an active DOC warrant, was approached by a uniformed officer in the Port Angeles Jack in the Box parking lot at about 2:42 a.m. Monday, Port Angeles police said in the affidavit for probable cause.
Upon seeing the officer, White “aggressively sped out” in a red Dodge passenger car, police said.
White ran a red light at the intersection of First and Race streets and continued southbound on Race Street at speeds of about 50 mph, court papers said.
The car smoked its rear tires as it turned onto Fourth and Francis streets and continued down an alley behind an apartment building where police believed White had been staying, the documents said.
With two police units in pursuit, White drove west on Fifth Street at 40 mph to 50 mph, turned south onto Chase Street and blew through the Eighth Street stop sign, police said.
The car accelerated and turned west onto 10th Street, north onto Laurel Street and east down an alley.
The car was going about 40 mph in the alley when it hit a bump and bottomed out with visible sparks, police said.
Near miss
The car White was driving nearly hit a Clallam County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle as it crossed Lincoln Street and continued eastbound down the alley, police said.
The car came to a stop after White failed to negotiate a turn, ran a tire into a curb and nearly struck a parked van on Chase Street, according to police.
A woman passenger who had been identified as the car owner remained in the vehicle as White fled on foot, police said.
White was caught as he attempted to climb a fence, police said.
Because he was reportedly armed and had a violent criminal history, White was ordered at gunpoint to lay on the ground and place his hands behind his back, police said in the arrest narrative.
White was arrested without further incident, police said.
A domestic violence no contact order issued last December prevented White from having contact with the passenger and owner of the car.
After his arrest, White told police that he fled because he was addicted to heroin and did not want to detox in jail, according to the affidavit for probable cause.
Neither White or his passenger were injured in the pursuit, police said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
