SEQUIM — A 33-year-old Sequim man will be tried July 18 for investigation on charges of eluding police and driving while intoxicated after police said he crashed into a sign and roundabout in late April.
Jason R. Morgan pleaded not guilty at a hearing Friday.
A status hearing was set for 1 p.m. June 2 in Clallam County Superior Court.
Court documents said that April 29, Sequim Police Officer Michael Hill tracked Morgan’s Toyota pickup truck on radar traveling 47 mph in a 25 mph zone on Sequim Avenue and began following him.
In a probable-cause statement, Hill said he attempted to catch up to the pickup and that it picked up speed.
The pickup drove through a brick median portion on the roundabout at Sequim Avenue and Old Olympic Highway and then passed a van in a no-passing zone, Hill said.
That’s when Hill activated his emergency lights.
Morgan didn’t stop but instead began to turn onto SunLand Drive. His truck missed the turn, crashed through a sign and over trees and rocks and became stuck, with the undercarriage high-centered, the court documents said.
“The vehicle was accelerating, smoking its tires, but was unable to move,” Hill said.
Morgan was arrested and booked for investigation of eluding police and driving while intoxicated.
Hill said Morgan repeatedly said, “I’m not even that trashed,” and “I thought you were chasing me.”
He told officers he had consumed only three beers and that he was hurrying home because he thought police had been following him since he left the bar.
Morgan provided two breath samples that showed he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.148 percent and 0.151 percent, police said. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Morgan requested a blood test for alcohol and was taken to Olympic Medical Center before he was booked in jail.
Morgan was no longer in custody at Clallam County jail Wednesday.