Sequim Gazette Staff

A 29-year-old Clarkston man was arrested Nov. 16 after the car he allegedly stole broke down on the side of U.S. Highway 101.

Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Knutson said a car driven by Joshua M. Wilson began having mechanical problems on Highway 101 near Sherburne Road while the deputy was driving behind him.

Wilson pulled the car to the shoulder of the road and parked, Knutson said in a certification for probable cause.

“When I attempted to contact Wilson as an apparent ‘disable motorist,’ he exited the car and ran southbound into the nearby forest in an attempt to elude me,” Knutson said in the report.

The deputy chased Wilson into the forest and caught up with him after about 300 feet. After checking Wilson’s name with dispatchers, Knutson learned the man allegedly had a suspended drivers license, was a sex offender with a warrant for failing to register in Asotin County, and the car he was driving was stolen.

Wilson was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license, possession of stolen property, and on the warrant out of Asotin County.

He was taken into custody at the Clallam County jail where he remains in lieu of $30,000 bond.

He was charged with possession of stolen property in the second degree, a Class C felony, and driving while license suspended in the third degree, a misdemeanor. He pleaded not guilty in Clallam County Superior Court Nov. 18 and trial is set for Jan. 17, 2012.