PORT HADLOCK –– A screaming woman who plummeted down a 150-foot hill in a stolen SUV after the man in the driver’s seat jumped from the moving vehicle to end an 80 mph run from the law suffered only bruised ribs, authorities said.
She was contacted at home Thursday, treated by medics and was recovering Saturday, said Sgt. Andrew Pernsteiner of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Because she is considered a victim, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office personnel would not disclose her name.
Authorities said Cordis Earl McBride, 28, of Port Hadlock was the man who jumped from the sport utility vehicle early Thursday morning.
He was arrested after Jefferson County deputies, who were investigating the theft of another vehicle, found him hiding beneath a bed in a house on Stevens Street on Thursday afternoon.
McBride, who had been free on a $25,000 bond from previous charges of burglary, theft and financial fraud, was in the Jefferson County jail Saturday for investigation of two counts of theft of a motor vehicle and one count each of attempting to elude a police vehicle, vehicular assault, malicious mischief, reckless endangerment, hit-and-run and driving with a suspended license.
Capt. Ben Stamper with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office gave an account.
McBride ran from a deputy who tried to pull over a 1993 Ford Explorer because he suspected faulty lighting at 2:05 a.m. Thursday on Chimacum Road.
The sport utility vehicle had been reported stolen May 6 from a Hadlock Avenue residence.
McBride led the deputy on a two-minute chase, turning onto side streets and cutting through parking lots, reaching speeds in excess of 80 mph in 25 mph speed zones, Stamper said.
He drove into the yard of a Brighton Avenue home and then jumped from the moving car moments before it careened over a 150-foot embankment, Stamper said.
“The deputy could hear a female screaming from within the vehicle as it went over the bank,” Stamper said in his statement.
The SUV came to rest near a garage on North Water Street, Stamper said.
Deputies could not find either the driver or the woman.
The vehicle was destroyed, Stamper said.
Jefferson County Sheriff Anthony Hernandez said momentum from his ejection forced McBride over the blackberry-covered hill along with the vehicle.
Then, McBride and the unidentified woman fled north up the shoreline toward Irondale while deputies drove to the crash scene, Hernandez said.
A receipt left in the car showed the two had purchased ice cream at the Poulsbo Walmart an hour before the chase, the sheriff added.
Deputies located the woman at her home later that day, and she was treated by emergency medical technicians for her injuries.
At about 1 p.m. that day, a 1991 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck was reported stolen from Blanche Avenue, Stamper said.
Deputies found the car on Stevens Street and received consent from the home’s resident to conduct a search.
McBride was found “cowering under a bed” and was arrested, Stamper said.
The woman living at the house told investigators McBride had showed up with the truck at about 5:30 a.m.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.