SEQUIM — A Sequim man remained in the Clallam County jail Tuesday after a brief chase Monday in which his escape was cut short by an off-duty police chief and a tree stump.
William McKinley Gilbertson, 43, was booked into the jail for investigation of eluding a police vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle and driving with a suspended license.
Gilbertson also had an outstanding bench warrant relating to December charges of second-degree motor vehicle theft.
No bond had been set as of Tuesday.
Sgt. Randy Pieper with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that Gilbertson is a “person of interest” in a number of burglaries and thefts in the Sequim and Port Angeles areas that occurred soon after the van was reported stolen.
The investigation is continuing, he said.
All Weather Heating and Cooling of Port Angeles had reported the van stolen from its shop in the Mount Pleasant area Friday.
The van had been equipped with a tracking device, and the signal led authorities to an area near Fish Hatchery Road off Taylor Cut Off Road south of Sequim.
It was later discovered the tracking device antenna had been removed, Pieper said.
He added that remnants of vinyl lettering were found in the area. A utility rack had been taken off the van in what appeared to be an attempt to change its appearance.
Near midnight Monday, Sequim Police Officer Richard Larsen was on patrol near the corner of Washington Street and West Sequim Bay Road when he saw a white van that matched the description of the one reported stolen, said Chief Bill Dickinson.
Larson followed the vehicle east on West Sequim Bay Road. He found the license plate matched that of the stolen van and attempted to stop the van, the police chief said.
The driver tried to elude Larson, he said, but came up behind Dickinson’s own unmarked patrol car, also traveling east on West Sequim Bay Road.
Dickinson said he was on his way home and was not on duty.
“I blocked him. I don’t know if he thought I was a bad driver or what,” he said.
The driver turned abruptly up a driveway sideswiping another vehicle and hitting a tree stump head on, Pieper said.
Gilbertson, the only person in the van, was taken to Olympic Medical Center with minor injuries and then booked into jail, Dickinsen said.
The van was not drivable and was towed away, Pieper said.
Pieper said officers and deputies found burglar tools and stolen property in the van.
Sequim officers Maris Turner and Mark Pool and Deputy Amy Bundy assisted Larson on Monday night, Pieper said.
