Hit-and-run crash

A 37-year-old Poulsbo man was arrested for hit-and-run driving and possession of illegal drugs with intent to deliver following a three-vehicle crash on Highway 20 south of Port Townsend Friday night.

The Washington State Patrol reported Saturday afternoon Che J. Salazar of Poulsbo had been taken into police custody.

Salazar is the suspect in the three-vehicle pileup that happened just before 6 p.m. Oct. 9 that sent a 56-year-old Brinnon woman to the hospital.

The State Patrol reported earlier that police were called to Highway 20 near Milepost 8, just north of the U-Haul business, after Salazar allegedly came up behind a line of vehicles that was heading south and had slowed for traffic.

Salazar’s 2012 Ford Focus was following a 2017 Chevrolet Colorado pickup, driven by a 26-year-old Port Orchard man, and the Ford slammed into the rear end of the truck, totaling the Ford.

The truck then lurched forward and hit a 1993 Nissan Maxima that was being driven by a 56-year-old Brinnon woman.

Salazar then allegedly fled from the crash scene on foot.

A K9 unit from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office was brought in to find him, but the search was unsuccessful.

The Brinnon woman was taken by an aid car to Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center in Port Townsend as a precautionary measure as she appeared injured, according to the State Patrol.

A passenger in the woman’s car, a 24-year-old Port Angeles woman, was not hurt in the collision.