The Columbian | Serving Clark County, Washington

The Washington State Patrol says Washougal Mayor Sean Guard illegally flashed emergency lights on his vehicle Friday near Woodland to urge a slow-moving driver out of the left lane. Guard says it’s not so.

The state patrol and Guard offered differing accounts Monday of Friday’s stop, and exactly what happened remains to be sorted out.

The state patrol’s version of the event: A trooper was positioned on Interstate 5 near milepost 25 at about 2 p.m. in response to reports that a white Ford Taurus traveling northbound was using emergency lights to usher vehicles out of its way.

The trooper observed the vehicle and saw white and red strobe lights flash for 10 to 15 seconds, according to spokesman Steve Robley, reading from the incident report.

The white strobe lights on the city-owned vehicle are located in the front grille; the red lights are in the rear, according to Robley.

The trooper stopped Guard near milepost 30. He observed several switches beneath the dash, “which were consistent with that of emergency lights,” according to Robley, reading from the report.

Asked if he was trying to get vehicles to move out of his way, Guard, 48, said, “Yeah. They’re in the left lane and they’re going under the speed limit,” according to the report and relayed by Robley.

Guard was traveling with an adult female and two children, according to the report. He told the trooper he was heading to Lakewood.

Asked if he was a police officer, Guard responded, “No, I’m the mayor.”

The trooper took Guard’s license and confirmed his identity.

He returned and asked Guard why he was using the lights. “The vehicles were traveling under 70 mph. They were going 68 mph. I’ve worked on the job for several years and understand the law,” Robley said Guard was quoted in the report.

The trooper’s report was forwarded to the Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office for review. Robley said Guard could be charged with impersonating a police officer.

Reached by phone Monday, Guard provided a conflicting account.

He acknowledged he was driving a city-owned vehicle. When he took office, Guard was assigned a retired police car still in the city’s fleet. The vehicle no longer has the red and blue emergency lights but does have hazard lights built into the tail lights, Guard said.

Guard said he was driving in the left “passing lane” on Interstate 5. He came up behind a vehicle that was going below the speed limit and had space to move into a lane to the right. When the driver of the other vehicle didn’t move, Guard said, he flashed his headlights.

A WSP trooper, driving behind Guard, pulled him over. Guard said the trooper advised him he should have passed the vehicle in the right lane instead of flashing his headlights. Guard was not cited but was “lectured,” he said.

Guard said he and his wife had taken a needy family to breakfast and then shopping and were driving them home when the incident occurred. He was not conducting city business.

In the year he’s had the vehicle, Guard said, he’s logged less than 3,000 miles and usually uses the car around town to drive to meetings. Guard pays for the gasoline in the vehicle.

Attempts to reach the Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office were unsuccessful.

Elected in 2008, Guard was a reserve police officer in Camas for about five years in the 1980s.

Bob Albrecht: 360-735-4522 or bob.albrecht@columbian.com.

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