PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office is looking for Richard Ivan Huggins, who led authorities on a high-speed, off-road chase in a stolen vehicle west of Sequim on Thursday evening.
“He should be considered armed and dangerous,” Clallam County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Keegan said Friday.
Huggins, 28, is wanted for possession of a stolen vehicle and attempting to elude a police vehicle, Keegan said.
He is described as a 6-foot-4, 255 pound Native American transient from the Port Angeles-Sequim area with brown eyes and black hair.
Anyone with information on Huggins’ whereabouts is asked to phone 9-1-1.
Keegan gave this account of the pursuit:
A law enforcement officer observed Huggins drive Holli Ann Bell to a residence at 75 Cliff Robinson Lane in a red extended cab pickup at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
The truck matched the description of a pickup that was recently stolen from an impound yard in Jefferson County.
As deputies arrived to arrest Bell on a federal narcotics warrant and Huggins on a $7,500 driving with a suspended licence warrant, Huggins was seen driving the pickup west down Cliff Robinson Lane.
Two deputies followed the pickup while others searched the residence, where Bell, 34, was arrested, Keegan said.
After being signaled to stop, Huggins sped up and drove through a field and over an embankment to Sherburne Road and turned south.
One deputy continued to follow the pickup, reaching speeds of 60 mph on the county road.
Higgins turned east onto Atterberry Road, then south down a driveway. He then plowed through three fences as he crossed three fields.
The truck hit a tree before it went through a fourth fence and came to a stop, Keegan said.
A resident spotted a man running from the vehicle.
A police dog was unable to track him.
Although the license plates on the recovered pickup had been changed, the vehicle identification number, or VIN, matched the stolen truck from Jefferson County, Keegan said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
