A woman walked into the Blaine Police Department and turned herself in less than two hours after she reportedly had successfully eluded five different Whatcom County law enforcement agencies.
Monica Megan Matheny, 28, was booked Aug. 26 into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of eluding police vehicles and was released later that same day on personal recognizance.
At approximately 11:09 p.m. Aug. 25, a Blaine officer clocked a Honda Accord doing 52 mph in a 25 mph zone in the 1200 block of Peace Portal Drive, according to Whatcom County Superior Court documents.
The officer attempted to pull the Accord over, and it driver decreased its speed to 35 mph in a 35 zone, documents state, and the officer was able to note the license plate, which returned to Matheny.
But rather than pulling over, the Accord sped up to 50 mph, and the officer pursed at speeds reaching 60 mph, according to documents.
At Hughes Avenue, the Accord came upon a truck, which was turning, documents state, and the Accord driver slowed to approximately 15 mph, before swerving into the other lane of travel to get around it.
The pursuit continued onto southbound I-5 and reached speeds of 80 mph, before the officer ended the chase at about milepost 273, according to documents. Though the officer reported not getting a look at Accord's driver, he called the Washington State Patrol to report the vehicle's location.
The officer later received reports that the Ferndale Police Department, Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, Bellingham Police Department and the State Patrol had all attempted to stop the Accord, but the driver refused to stop, documents state, but two sheriff's deputies and a state trooper positively identified Matheny as the driver.
At approximately 12:50 a.m. Aug. 26 — less than two hours have the initial attempt to stop the Accord — Matheny turned herself over to the Blaine officer and she was placed under arrest. Matheny reportedly admitted to the officer that she had been speeding and had eluded police.
