Thurston County man charged after leading police on chase through pedestrian trail

LACEY, Wash. — A dramatic high-speed chase in Thurston County ended with a crash Monday morning around 8 a.m.

Deputies said they tried to perform a routine traffic stop and said that Clifford Gregg gave them a false name.

Deputies said a short time after, the vehicle Gregg was driving was turned back on and it began to drive off. Deputies tried to use spike strips to stop him from getting away, but it hit the side of the vehicle as it drove off.

Deputies said Gregg led them on a chase through the county and that he was driving at speeds of up to 70 mph. Deputies said there was probable cause for driving under the influence and a pursuit was authorized. Part of the chase happened along the Western Chehalis Trail that is only for cyclists and walkers, not for vehicles.

At one point, deputies tried to pin in Gregg, but he reversed and got away. Court documents said he continued to drive erratically and backwards through neighborhoods until finally coming to a stop in a neighbors yard and crashing into their camper. The prosecutor for Thurston County called the speeds Gregg was driving at “obscene.”

“I don’t like to use the word lucky, but frankly, Mr. Greg is lucky that no one was hit by him and that was while attempting to elude law enforcement after providing them with a false name,” the prosecutor said during Gregg’s appearance in court Thursday afternoon.

Gregg spoke out in court against his attorney’s advice saying, “At the end, I messed up, may have allegedly messed up, but now my kid is in daycare, paid for, my wife has a full time job and her own place.”

Gregg was out on bail from another case when this happened Monday. That case had his original bail set at $30,000 but it was reduced to $2,500. The judge reinstated that original bail of $30,000 and set bail for the new charges at $40,000. Gregg’s next trial date is set for April 22nd at 9:00 a.m.

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