By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A deputy’s patrol was struck twice by a fleeing suspect yesterday morning during a pursuit that began in Morton and ended with a wreck in Onalaska and the discovery of fair amounts of drugs.
The driver was subsequently chased down and arrested for numerous offenses, after a water bottle he allegedly dropped was found to contain more than two ounces of suspected heroin plus about 14 grams of methamphetamine, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
A high speed pursuit began around 10:30 a.m. near the Seasons Motel in Morton down U.S. Highway 12 to Mossyrock where the driver rammed the patrol car for the second time disabling it, according to the sheriff’s office. Other law enforcement officers continued the chase up Silver Creek Road on to state Route 508 into Onalaska, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
The Lexus crashed into an embankment near Fickett Road and the driver fled on foot but was subsequently apprehended, Brown said. His 19-year-old passenger was detained, according to Brown.
Winlock’s drug-sniffing dog Misha and her partner were there and “alerted” on items discarded by the subjects, according to Winlock Police Chief Terry Williams.
Deputies had been surveilling the couple on Sunday morning because they had identified Joshua J. Martin, 28, of Junction City, Ore., as a suspect in an incident the day before in a trailer park in Morton.
A resident at the park on Chapman Road had told deputies he confronted he driver of a car who nearly ran over a child and the driver threatened him with a gun, according to Brown.
A search of the wrecked car turned up an Airsoft gun, Brown said.
The deputy was uninjured, Brown said, but the patrol car sustained an estimated $1,500 damage.
Martin was booked for two counts of second-degree assault, possession of drugs and eluding, according to Brown. The woman, Danique Defeniks, of Eugene, Ore. was booked for eluding.
Defeniks was released with no charges filed. She had told a deputy the two fled because Martin was wanted for hit and run in Oregon and a warrant, according to Brown.