BLAINE, Wash. — Edgar Alejandro Sepulveda, age 32, pled guilty to a felony charge of attempting to elude a police vehicle and had a gross misdemeanor charge of reckless driving dismissed in a plea deal in Whatcom County Superior Court. He received a sentence of 3 months in custody with credit for time served.
The charges were the result of an incident that began on October 12, 2023 at about 9pm when a Blaine Police officer attempted to stop Sepulveda but he fled instead.
The officer reported a traffic stop was being made on a white van in the 700 block of Pacific Highway in Blaine due to having observed the van not staying in its lane and speeding.
The driver failed to yield to the officer’s efforts get them to pull over. Instead, the van entered the southbound lanes of I-5 and reached speeds up to 95mph. Other law enforcement agencies were advised of the pursuit.
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South of the W Smith Road overpass, the van was seen crossing over to the northbound lanes and continued southbound driving head on into moderate traffic and reportedly “causing near collisions.”
The van eventually slowed and turned around to continue northbound in the northbound lanes. It exited I-5 at Ferndale and was located passing vehicles while eastbound on Main Street.
The driver stopped the van and fled on foot. Officers arrived and contacted the passenger who was reportedly related to the driver.
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office deputies who had already been responding were able to quickly set up a K-9 unit track to locate the driver about 15 minutes later and he was detained.
Sepulveda was ultimately identified as the driver of the van and arrested. He remained in custody pending being able to post a $150,000 bond.
Sentencing was on December 14, 2023, and Sepulveda was released from custody on January 7th, according to jail records.
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