PORT ANGELES — A 31-year-old Port Angeles man was arrested early Monday for shoving a state Department of Transportation crew member on U.S. Highway 101 east of Port Angeles, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office reported.
John F. Morris was booked into the Clallam County jail at 3:24 a.m. for investigation of resisting arrest and fourth-degree assault. He posted $250 bail and was released from jail by Monday afternoon.
The state road worker, Laniere Mills, was not injured.
Morris will be arraigned in Clallam County District Court because the alleged crimes are misdemeanors.
Transportation crew members were applying thermal plastic “wrong way” arrows to sections of the highway near Bagley Creek Road at 2:14 a.m. Monday when Morris got out of his vehicle and confronted them, Sheriff’s Sgt. Randy Pieper said.
Pieper said Morris was “acting in a bizarre manner.”
The road workers asked Morris to leave, but he refused and chest-butted Mills.
Sheriff’s Deputies Jeff Pickrell and Bobbie Cannon responded with backup from Border Patrol agent Garrett Szydoski. Morris then became combative and refused to comply with the law officers, Pieper said.
Morris, who did not appear to have been drinking, physically resisted efforts to arrest him, Pieper reported.
“Morris was eventually subdued without injury to the deputies or Border Patrol agent,” he said.
“It was unclear why Morris chose to stop and confront [Department of Transportation] crew members at their project work site, and reasons given by Morris amounted to nonsense.
“It was not known if Morris was affected by any substances, and there was no evidence to indicate anything of that nature.”