A Vancouver man appeared Thursday in Clark County Superior Court in connection with a high-speed police pursuit Wednesday from Salmon Creek to West Vancouver’s Uptown Village.
Wayne A. Ross, 45, faces charges of attempting to elude police, harassment domestic violence, first-degree possession of stolen property, hit-and-run injury, third-degree theft, fourth-degree assault domestic violence, malicious mischief less than $50 and being a fugitive from justice. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges March 6.
Judge David Gregerson held him on $100,000 bail because he has a fugitive warrant in Oregon and warrants out of Clark County District Court. The judge appointed Vancouver attorney Clark Fridley to defend Ross.
The chase started in the Salmon Creek area and ended with a collision in Uptown Village on Wednesday. The alleged driver then fled on foot but was stopped by a police Taser and a bystander wielding a skateboard.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies were called about 2:48 p.m. Wednesday to respond to a disturbance at a residence in the 2400 block of Northeast 129th St. While en route, dispatchers informed them that the suspect, Wayne Ross, had threatened his girlfriend, according to a court affidavit. Ross left the residence in a red Ford pickup just before deputies arrived, the affidavit says. The vehicle was stolen, according to the sheriff’s office.
Before leaving, he allegedly told his girlfriend, “If you call the police, I will kill you,” and “I will come back and burn you to death,” according to the court affidavit.
Three sheriff’s deputies caught up with the truck as it was northbound on Northeast Highway 99 near Northeast 134th Street. At the intersection of Northeast 134th Street and Northeast 23rd Avenue, the driver turned left, cutting off other vehicles, according to the court affidavit. The deputies turned on their emergency lights and sirens. The driver accelerated to 90 mph and began driving recklessly, the affidavit says.
The chase proceeded east, then down Northeast 50th Avenue and St. Johns Road into Vancouver.
“He was swerving in and out of traffic and driving into oncoming traffic,” wrote sheriff’s Deputy Albin Boyse in the court affidavit. “Two separate times, he almost had a head-on collision with two school buses as he was fleeing us.”
The deputies lost sight of the truck near the area of Fourth Plain Boulevard and Interstate 5. Meanwhile, Ross allegedly drove westbound on Fourth Plain Boulevard into Uptown Village, ignored a red light at the intersection of Broadway and collided with a northbound black Jeep. Inside the Jeep were John and Dorothy Golphenee and their 17-year-old son, Joseph. John Golphenee wasn’t injured. His wife and son said they had minor injuries but didn’t need to be transported to the hospital.
After colliding with the Jeep, the driver emerged from his pickup and began running on foot south on Broadway. Two bystanders and multiple police officers began chasing him, according to witnesses. A Vancouver police officer apprehended Ross after shooting him with a Taser weapon, the court affidavit says.
