PORT ANGELES – A drive-by shooting followed by a high-speed chase across the north Peninsula ended in a crash last night.
About 7:40 last night, Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a report of a person discharging a firearm from a car near Hwy 101 and Del Guzzi Drive east of Port Angeles.
A witness followed the suspect vehicle, until sheriff’s deputies and Sequim police located the vehicle on Highway 101 near Sequim. Sheriff’s Sergeant John Hollis says deputies tried a traffic stop, that’s when the vehicle sped off erratically, at times heading in the wrong direction on the highway.
The pursuit continued into Jefferson County, where police used spike strips to disable the vehicles tires. With flat tires, the driver continued, and deputies conducted two Pursuit Intervention Technique maneuver (PIT) on the vehicle. The second caused the driver to go out of control and roll over on SR 104.
The driver, 35-year-old Nate A. Peterson, was treated at Olympic Medical Center prior to being booked into the Clallam County Jail for attempting to elude, reckless endangerment, complicity in a drive-by-shooting, and possession of stolen vehicle. The front seat passenger, 29-year-old Christopher F. Tavita, was treated at a Kitsap County Hospital prior to being booked into the Clallam County Jail for drive-by shooting, felon possessing a firearm and a community custody escape warrant for a robbery conviction.
Two other occupants were in the vehicle. One was released on scene and the other treated at Jefferson County Hospital