DISCOVERY BAY — Two Port Angeles area residents were arrested Thursday on narcotics charges after a State Patrol trooper recognized the car from a Port Angeles police bulletin, and officers briefly blocked both lanes of U.S. Highway 101 near state Highway 20.
Clayton L. Charles, 25, and Toni L. Kahl, 24, were booked into Clallam County jail Thursday evening on investigation of possession of cocaine and marijuana with intent to sell. Both live in the Port Angeles area, police said.
They were in a Dodge Charger stopped by law enforcement officers in two police cars — one State Patrol and the other from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office — at 2:01 p.m. at Milepost 282 on Highway 101, said State Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Krista Hedstrom.
Two others in the car were detained briefly, then released.
Port Angeles police found the narcotics in the car when they executed a search warrant, said Deputy Chief Brian Smith.
He did not know how much was found.
The stop blocked both lanes of the highway. The highway was clear for traffic by 2:30 p.m., Hedstrom said.
She said the car stopped immediately, and she didn’t know for sure why the highway was blocked by the police cars.
Hedstrom said the law enforcement officers may have positioned their cars in the road rather than behind one another on the shoulder if they felt that those in the car could be dangerous.
PA police bulletin
The car was stopped because it was identified in a bulletin the Port Angeles police sent Thursday morning to law enforcement agencies in Western Washington.
The bulletin identified the car as being part of a narcotics investigation, said Police Chief Terry Gallagher.
Hedstrom said a state trooper saw the car heading westbound over the Hood Canal bridge and radioed other law enforcement in the area.
Police released little about the investigation, but Smith said that it has been “going on for a long time and this will continue for a long time.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.