PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man has been charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and obstructing a law enforcement officer after a foot pursuit in downtown Port Angeles.
Joshua Michael Wilson-Wedding, 34, was charged Tuesday. He was being held Wednesday in the Clallam County jail on $20,000 bail and a state Department of Corrections hold. He will be arraigned Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.
Port Angeles Police Sgt. Jason Viada said Wilson-Wedding had multiple warrants against him and was believed to be in possession of a firearm when he ran from the Lee Plaza apartments Monday evening,
Viada stopped the foot pursuit by hitting Wilson-Wedding in the thigh with a Taser probe near the public restrooms in the alley between First and Front streets, court papers said.
Police found a .38-caliber Smith &Wesson semi-automatic handgun in a backpack that Wilson-Wedding had jettisoned in the pedestrian tunnel that connects First Street to the alley, according to the affidavit for probable cause.
Police said they were tipped that Wilson-Wedding was in an apartment at the Lee Plaza trying to sell a gun. He was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender, another local warrant and a state Department of Corrections warrant, Viada said.
Viada, who was on downtown foot patrol, went to the apartments at 112 W. First St. and spotted a man running north across First Street into the tunnel.
Wilson-Wedding ignored Viada’s commands to stop and manipulated his backpack, according to the arrest narrative.
“I was concerned that he was going to pull the gun out of his pack and shoot me,” Viada wrote.
”I drew my sidearm as I continued to pursue.”
Wilson-Wedding fell down during the pursuit, dropped his backpack and continued running north, Viada said.
“I hit him with the Taser there in the alley,” Viada said Tuesday.
“He stopped resisting. He was taken into custody.”
Wilson-Wedding had at least nine prior felony convictions, Viada said.
Most recently, he pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a stolen motor vehicle and one count of second-degree identity theft in October 2013, according to Superior Court records.
Prosecutors listed several aliases for Wilson-Wedding in the criminal information: Joshua Branch, Joshua Michael Branch, Joshua Allen Jenkins, Joshual Michael Jenkins, Josh Allen Jenkins, William Francis O’Connor, Joshua Michael O’Connor, Josh Wedding and Joshua Michael Wilson.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@ peninsuladailynews.com.