PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man accused of driving while under the influence of more than three times the legal limit for alcohol when he crashed into several cars and a Safeway parking lot on Christmas Eve has been charged with DUI.
Bryan J. Mash, 56, was arrested Tuesday after the 4:55 p.m. wreck at the Port Angeles Safeway at 110 E. Third St., police said.
He was charged Thursday in Clallam County District Court, where Judge David Neupert set bail at $500, a court administrator said. He remained in jail late Thursday afternoon.
Witnesses told police that Mash was driving west on Fourth Street at about 60 mph before he knocked over street signs at the corner of Fourth and Lincoln streets with a Buick LeSabre.
The sedan crossed South Lincoln Street, collided with multiple vehicles outside the grocery store and smashed through a construction fence, police said.
Officer Luke Brown said Mash agreed to a preliminary breath test and registered a blood alcohol level of 0.269 percent.
The legal limit for driving in Washington is 0.08 percent.
A sobbing woman whose vehicle was wrecked in the incident told police: “We are just lucky nobody was seriously injured,” Officer Zachery Moore said.
Another damaged vehicle was occupied by a driver and children when it was struck by construction fencing that was pushed by the Buick, Port Angeles Chief of Police Brian Smith said.
“Arriving officers found a damaged street sign, a damaged stop sign and a trail of fluid and debris leading into the Safeway parking lot,” Smith said in a press release.
“It also appeared that three parked vehicles had been struck by a Buick sedan that subsequently collided with a construction fence and a small tree.”
Officers found Mash standing next to the Buick when they arrived. He appeared “disoriented and confused” and failed a series of sobriety tests, Brown said.
“Mash was looking at the damage and asked me ‘Did I do that?’” Brown said in his arrest report.
Mash told police that he had consumed four to five drinks of vodka and had stopped drinking at about 3 p.m., Brown said.
“Mash also stated, ‘I must have had too much,’” Brown said.
Mash was evaluated at Olympic Medical Center before he was booked into the Clallam County jail.
Subsequent blood alcohol readings taken after 6 p.m. showed Mash had blood alcohol level of 0.252 and 0.251, officer Jared Tait said.
“Bryan stated that he had been planning to drive to Safeway to purchase more alcohol,” Tait said in an arrest narrative.
“Bryan stated that he did not remember the collisions.”
Numerous vehicles, construction fencing, city-owned signs and a tree were damaged in the incident, Smith said.
“As a part of the case work, the Port Angeles Police Department will ask that the prosecutor seek restitution for damages suffered by the various parties,” Smith said.
Three Port Angeles police officers and city Fire Department personnel responded to the wreck.
It occurred while other officers and detectives were investigating a body found in Peabody Creek near Park Avenue, Smith said.
Should he post bail, Mash will be required to wear an alcohol monitoring device, Neupert ruled.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
