A man sought for a drive-by shooting near the McDonald’s in Port Angeles was stopped in Jefferson County at the end of a police pursuit Sunday night.
Christopher F. Tavita, 29, was jailed …
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A man sought for a drive-by shooting near the McDonald’s in Port Angeles was stopped in Jefferson County at the end of a police pursuit Sunday night.
Christopher F. Tavita, 29, was jailed early Monday on allegations of drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Officers were called to the area near US Highway 101 and Del Guzzi Drive after shots were reportedly fired.
A witness followed the vehicle carrying the shooter until deputies from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and the Sequim Police Department caught up to the 2014 Hyundai Elantra near Sequim.
According to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, the driver of the vehicle, which had three passengers inside, began driving erratically, including speeding and driving on the wrong direction on the highway.
The driver sped east into Jefferson County on US Highway 101.
Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies joined the chase, and spike strips were deployed in Discovery Bay near Fat Smitty’s by an officer from the Port Townsend Police Department.
The Hyundai hit the spike strips, flattening one of the car’s front tires, but the driver kept going, slowing to about 30 mph, as the vehicle turned onto Highway 104.
Jefferson County deputies behind the fleeing vehicle used a PIT maneuver (precision immobilization technique) twice, with the second hit causing the Hyundai to go into the ditch on the right side of the road and flip over.
Authorities determined the Hyundai had been reported stolen in Tukwila.
The people in the vehicle were detained, and two were arrested.
According to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Tavita was treated at a hospital in Kitsap County before being booked into the Clallam County Jail. Tavita also had a warrant for his arrest for escape from community custody for the crime of second-degree robbery.
The driver of the Hyundai, identified as Nathan Allen Peterson, 35, was treated at Olympic Medical Center and then booked into Clallam County Jail for reckless endangerment, attempting to elude, possession of a stolen vehicle, and complicity to drive-by shooting.
The two other passengers were not arrested. One was released at the scene and the other was treated at Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center.
