PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County sheriff’s patrol car that spun out of control near Lake Crescent last week apparently is a total loss, the undersheriff said Monday.
However, neither of the occupants inside — a sheriff’s deputy and a prisoner — was injured.
Deputy Ken Oien was returning from the West End after picking up the unidentified prisoner when the patrol car he was driving on U.S. Highway 101 hit a patch of black ice near Fairholme early Thursday, Undersheriff Ron Peregrin said.
The car went into a ditch and appears to be destroyed, he said.
The ice was unusual in that earlier in the morning ice was not much of an issue, Peregrin said.
“As the morning went on, the ice seemed to grow,” he said.
“Even the State Patrol and our deputies who were responding noticed that the ice got worse as the morning went on.”
State troopers determined that the deputy had done nothing wrong, Peregrin said.
“Even the prisoner gave us a statement that she was watching his speedometer when he hit the ice and he was going under the speed limit,” Peregrin said.
“She said that he was more worried about her safety than his own.”
Peregrin said the car is still being evaluated, but it did seem to be a total loss at this point.
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Peregrin said.
“He’s had no other wrecks and was driving very safely — it isn’t like he is one of our speed demons.”
The prisoner was taken to the Clallam County jail by another car after the wreck.
