Bail was set at $10,000 for a Yelm man who allegedly drove his car into a ditch on state Route 508 near Gish Road in the Onalaska area on Friday while driving drunk. He’s also accused of assaulting and threatening to kill responding Washington State Patrol troopers and a nurse.
The crash reportedly occurred Friday, Feb. 2, sometime before 6:45 a.m. When a Washington State Patrol trooper arrived at the scene, he found a vehicle registered to Leland Peters, 31, facing westbound in the westbound ditch. A woman at the scene reportedly told the trooper “she and the driver had been drinking and drove into the ditch after turning on (state Route 508) from Gish Road,” according to court documents.
When asked who the driver was, the woman reportedly “pointed to a male laying in the ditch on his back.”
The male was later identified as Peters.
The trooper conducted field sobriety tests after detecting “a heavy odor of intoxicants coming from Peters’ breath as he spoke,” and ultimately had Peters provide a breath test, which yielded a result of 0.208.
The legal limit to drive in Washington state is 0.08.
Peters was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, where Peters allegedly became “argumentative” with troopers and “made threats to various people as a whole,” according to court documents.
During the hospital visit, Peters allegedly kicked a trooper’s left thigh, kicked a second trooper, and punched a nurse. He also allegedly “repeated death threats” to the two troopers and the nurse.
Peters was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 6:45 a.m. on Feb. 2, according to jail records.
He was charged Monday, Feb. 5, with one count of DUI, three counts of third-degree assault and two counts of felony harassment.
His conditions of release include provisions prohibiting him from consuming any alcohol or drugs without a prescription and from driving without a valid drivers license.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 8.
