PORT ANGELES – A man who jumped out of a patrol car following his arrest, has been sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison.
31-year-old Justin Cox of Port Angeles was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to theft of a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, malicious mischief and escape.
Judge Brent Basden agreed to the prosecutor’s recommendation Cox receive the maximum sentence without a jury finding aggravating circumstances. That recommendation was based on Cox’s previous criminal record.
The latest case began April 27th, when Clallam County sheriff’s deputies found Cox passed out in a stolen truck.
Deputies say Cox refused to exit the truck and had to be dragged from the vehicle. Once outside the vehicle, he continued to resist arrest.
Once arrested and enroute to the jail, Cox kicked out a side rear window of the patrol vehicle and leapt out of the car near Front and Francis streets in Port Angeles. Cox was able to run about one block before he was taken into custody a second time.