PORT ANGELES — Two Port Angeles residents were taken into custody Wednesday after a police chase that led from an elementary school to a tree branch 35 feet above the ground near Olympic National Park.
Damon L. Foust, 36, and Katherine L. Roberts, 30, remained in the Clallam County jail Wednesday night with no bail set.
Foust was taken into custody on a felony bench warrant, two pay-or-appear warrants and for investigation of eluding a police vehicle, obstructing a law enforcement officer, possession of a controlled substance and possession of 40 grams or less of marijuana.
Roberts also had an outstanding pay-or-appear warrant and was booked into the Clallam County jail for investigation of eluding a police vehicle and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
The chase began when a patrol officer on traffic duty at Jefferson Elementary School on Lauridsen Boulevard saw a pickup truck speed through the area at about 7:35 a.m. and head east toward Race Street, said Brian Smith, deputy chief of the Port Angeles Police Department.
“He hit his lights for a routine traffic stop,” Smith said.
Instead of stopping, the truck sped away, he said.
The chase led police east, where the driver turned south on Race Street and drove toward Olympic National Park.
The truck was damaged when the driver drove on the largely unused old Mount Angeles Road, Smith said.
The road is just north of the park entrance and goes into the park.
The driver and a passenger got out of the truck where Mount Angeles Road is closed off and fled into the woods, Smith said.
A command post was established at the entrance to the park, and a perimeter was established with assistance from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Park Service rangers and U.S. Border Patrol officers, including a Border Patrol unit with a tracking dog.
Port Angeles police dog Jag, with his handler, Cpl. Kevin Miller, tracked Foust, the truck’s driver, to the base of a large tree, Smith said.
“He looked up, and the suspect was 35 feet up in the tree,” Smith said.
“It was a good team effort.”
Roberts, a passenger in the truck, had fled and was located 30 minutes later, Smith said.
Foust and Roberts were hiding in an area near the end of Mount Angeles Road near several homes, Smith said.
The truck was heavily damaged and does not belong to either Foust or Roberts, Smith said.
People who speed through school zones and into a national park while driving a 5,000-pound truck take a major risk of hurting others, Smith said, adding that such an action is considered to be a serious crime.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.