Hoquiam DUI arrest happens in HPD parking lot

Originally posted 10-4-19

Hoquiam, WA – A man was arrested for DUI in Hoquiam while parked at the Hoquiam Police Department.

Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Myers reports that a man was taken into custody for driving while under the influence this week, and he didn’t have far to go from his vehicle to the jail.

According to the report, Sgt. Blundred was working a graveyard shift this week and saw a 2018 Jeep Compass as it turned the wrong way down a one-way street near the Simpson Avenue Bridge. As the officer followed to do a traffic stop, the driver pulled into the Hoquiam Police Department parking lot.

When the Jeep stopped in the staff parking area, Blundred said that the man allegedly had difficulty putting the vehicle into park and initially rolled down the rear driver side window to talk to the officer. He added that he felt the man smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.

“I requested his license, registration, and insurance. He provided his Montana Driver’s License and handed me the entire envelope from his glove compartment.

I asked if this was his registration and insurance and he slurred how he did not know.”

Blundred said that when he told the man why he stopped him, the driver responded that “he wasn’t driving” and when asked where he was going answered “here”. When asked if he knew where he was and where he was initially coming from, the man answered both questions with “here”.

The report states that the man said tha the had been drinking recently, and that they were “half drinks”, although a little later changed his story and said he had not been drinking and he hadn’t been driving.

When asked to do sobriety tests at the police department, the man allegedly said that he wasn’t going to participate and refused to step out of the vehicle. 

The man was taken into custody and a blood draw was taken and sent to the State Toxicology Lab.