A Battle Ground man, who was being pursued by law enforcement, is accused of kicking a police dog at least 10 times early Tuesday before Clark County sheriff’s deputies subdued him with an electronic Taser weapon.
The K-9, named Jango, escaped with minor injuries, including bruising, said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Fred Neiman.
Joseph W. Chumley, 36, appeared Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of harming a police dog, attempting to elude police, second-degree identity theft and third-degree theft. Judge John Nichols held Chumley in Clark County Jail in lieu of $70,000 bail and appointed Vancouver attorney Ed Dunkerly to defend him. Chumley is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Friday.
Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Beck wrote in a court affidavit that he attempted to stop a green Saturn sedan for a possible traffic infraction just after 2 a.m. Tuesday at Northeast 88th Street and Northeast St. Johns Road. When he switched on his emergency lights, the sedan initially slowed and pulled over toward the shoulder of the road, then accelerated and continued east on Northeast 88th Street at a high rate of speed with the headlights shut off, Beck wrote.
Beck followed the vehicle and stopped when he saw a construction worker on the side of the road at the intersection of Northeast Andresen Road and Northeast 88th Street. The construction worker said the sedan had just sped through the intersection at a high rate of speed and nearly struck him, according to Beck. The sedan then headed toward a parking lot at Home Depot, 8601 N.E. Andresen Road, the construction worker said, according to the court document.
Beck said he located the sedan behind the store, but the vehicle was unoccupied. Several other deputies set up a containment perimeter around the store and sent Jango to track the driver. He led the deputies to some bushes, where deputies found Chumley and his girlfriend, Jensina Tech, Beck wrote.
“Chumley resisted commands by officers and was observed kicking the K-9 over 10 times,” Beck wrote.
Tech told deputies that Chumley had been driving the vehicle, Beck wrote.
“‘He always runs'” from police, she reportedly said, according to court documents.
Chumley was treated at the hospital for dog bites and then was booked into jail.
He has a significant criminal history and was just released from prison after serving 25 months for second-degree theft and forgery, Nichols said.
