BELLINGHAM - A Bellingham man wanted for several counts of felony assault remained at large Friday, Dec. 14, after he was accused of almost running over three people on Texas Street.
Kenneth Elmer Main, 45, was sleeping at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in an apartment at 1804 Texas St. when someone roused him, setting off an argument, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young.
Main grabbed his belongings and some things owned by his onetime girlfriend, 36, who lives in the apartment, according to police. He then went outside and loaded them into the bed of a gray 1992 Chevy pickup that he was borrowing.
When the woman jumped on the tailgate to grab her stuff back, Main allegedly revved the engine and spun his tires, jolting her to the ground. Two witnesses, a 39-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, confronted Main and tried to get him to stop, but he tried to run them over, Young said.
Officers caught up with the pickup and tailed it, snaking west on Alabama Street, north on Orleans Street and west on East North Street. The suspect ditched the pickup in an alley behind Moore Street - in the same block where Main recently lived - then ran.
Police dogs couldn't track him. Investigators don't think he went into his former house on Moore Street. They suspect he may have run across a footbridge over Interstate 5.
School was out at nearby Sunnyland Elementary, but after-school activities were briefly in lockdown while police searched for the suspect, said Bellingham School District spokeswoman Tanya Rowe.
Main has a history of domestic violence. His court record in Washington stretches more than 60 cases long, with six felony convictions.
He's now wanted on suspicion of several counts of felony assault, felony violation of a no-contact order and eluding police. Early reports suggested that someone was attacked with a baseball bat on Texas Street, but nothing about a bat was in the police report.
Corrected the day of the chase on Saturday, Dec. 15.
Reach CALEB HUTTON at caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2276.
