With permission to pursue, spike strip used to stop suspected drunken driver in Whatcom
Troopers and sheriff’s deputies chased a suspected drunken driver though north Bellingham and into a rural area south of Ferndale, ultimately stopping his car with a spike strip.
Dennis Jon Phair was being held without bail Friday, Feb. 10, after his early morning arrest on several charges, according to online Whatcom County Jail records.
Phair, 38, was booked on charges of drunken driving, reckless driving, third-degree driving with a suspended license and driving without an ignition interlock device, according to jail records.
A trooper tried to cite the driver of a 2000 Ford F-250 pickup that ran a stop sign about 2 a.m. Friday, just north of Bellis Fair mall, said Washington State Patrol trooper Anthony Califano.
But the driver ignored the trooper’s lights and siren and fled south on Meridian Street, then headed north on Interstate 5, Califano told The Bellingham Herald.
Califano said the trooper got permission to chase the truck under a 2021 law that limits pursuits to crimes involving violence, sex or drunken drivers.
Phair was speeding, swerving in his lane, and changing lanes without signaling, which made the trooper suspect that he was drunk, Califano said.
Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies took over the chase as Phair left the freeway at Slater Road and headed west, where he was going 75 mph in a 55 mph zone.
During the chase, Phair ran red lights and nearly hit several other cars, Califano said.
