PORT ANGELES — John Richard Schaack was charged Monday with a felony DUI and other crimes for allegedly driving while four times over the legal limit for alcohol before he was stopped by good Samaritans last week.
Schaack, 43, of Port Angeles was charged in Clallam County Superior Court with single counts of driving under the influence of alcohol, second-degree driving with a suspended license, operating a motor vehicle without a functioning ignition interlock device and hit and run of an attended vehicle.
He will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Friday.
Port Angeles police said Schaack was driving a Chevrolet Suburban with a 0.32 blood alcohol level when he struck two vehicles near the Clallam County Juvenile and Family Services Facility in west Port Angeles on Wednesday.
The legal alcohol limit in Washington is 0.08 percent.
Police said the victim drivers used their vehicles to box in the Suburban in the westbound lane of West 18th Street.
Schaack was charged with a felony DUI because he had been convicted of at least three DUIs in the past 10 years, Officer JJ Smith said in the affidavit for probable cause.
Under state law, a DUI becomes a class B felony if the driver has had three or more DUIs in a decade.
Smith said Schaack was slurring his words and had bloodshot, watery eyes at his arrest at about 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Schaack provided two breath samples that registered blood alcohol levels of 0.314 percent and 0.322 percent, respectively, Smith said in court papers.
Schaack told police that he had been drinking since about 6 a.m. that day.
Schaack, who had DUI convictions in 2010, 2015 and 2018, had warrants from Clallam and Kitsap counties, a suspended driver’s license and an ignition interlock requirement, police said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at [email protected].
