A boat from Penn Cove Shellfish picked up a state trooper, a deputy and two criminal suspects after a pursuit ended on a beach below a steep embankment on Sunday.
Zane Malloy, farm manager of the shellfish company in Coupeville, said he was happy to help out the police.
“It was definitely an interesting way to start the day,” he said.
The two suspects in the case, 26-year-old Robert C. Askew and 36-year-old Ashley McElhenie, were arrested on suspicion of a series of crimes related to a car theft. They appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday.
Trooper Jesse Greene with the Washington State Patrol was on patrol at about 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 15 when he saw a black Hyundai traveling south on Highway 20 at 71 mph in a 55 mph zone, according to his report on the incident. The trooper tried to pull the car over and reached speeds of about 100 mph while pursuing the car.
The trooper chased the car as it turned left onto Sherman Road and then a right onto Madrona Way. The car pulled over on Madrona Way and the two occupants got out and ran into the woods. The trooper checked the VIN number on the car and found that it had been stolen at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island on Dec. 7, the report states.
Troopers were joined by deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office in searching the area for the two suspects. By tracking footprints and using an infrared camera, the officers were able to locate the two people down a steep embankment on Penn Cove, where they were stuck on the beach due to king tides, the trooper wrote.
Malloy said he was first alarmed when he received a call requesting help evacuating the officers and suspects from the beach. He misunderstood and thought that he was told that the company’s boat used at the mussel rafts in Penn Cove had floated away. After that was cleared up, he and a couple members of the crew took the boat to the beach, where they found two suspects in handcuffs and the two members of law enforcement. He dropped off the passengers at the Coupeville Wharf.
The trooper wrote in his report that McElhenie was in possession of a small plastic bag containing small blue pills of suspected oxycodone laced with fentanyl. Askew had an ignition key for the car.
A deputy saw a set of golf clubs inside the car and noted that two sets of clubs and other items had recently been stolen in burglaries in the Holmes Harbor Golf Club Community and Honeymoon Bay Community. The trooper obtained a search warrant and found a set of stolen Nicholas clubs in a bag, the report states. The officer also found “jiggle keys,” which are used by thieves to open car doors.
The trooper arrested Askew on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle in the first degree, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property, possession of vehicle theft tools and driving while license suspended.
McElhenie was arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle in the first degree, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
