Eureka police say drug bust follows suspected Fourth Street transaction

A suspected hand-to-hand drug transaction near Fourth and J Streets ended with Eureka police seizing 38.25 grams of methamphetamine and 14.48 grams of fentanyl, then booking 59-year-old Clayton Winfrey of Eureka on felony narcotics and evasion charges.

Officers said the encounter unfolded about 7:30 p.m. on May 4 near a gas station in the 1100 block of Fourth Street, where a school resource officer and the department’s mental-health response officer saw what appeared to be a drug sale between the driver of a silver Mercedes-Benz and a pedestrian. Police said Winfrey tried to drive away but was stopped after another traffic violation, and officers then saw drug paraphernalia inside the car.

According to police, Winfrey fled westbound on Fourth Street, turned onto Broadway and abandoned the Mercedes near Railroad Avenue before running into nearby brush and tossing items away. A K9 unit tracked him, and Winfrey surrendered before the dog was used to apprehend him. Officers later recovered cash and the narcotics from the area where he had discarded items.

Winfrey was booked on felony charges including evading a peace officer, possession of narcotics for sale, transportation of a controlled substance for sale and possession of a controlled substance. The presence of fentanyl gives the case a public-health edge as well as a criminal one, since even small amounts of the drug can be lethal once it enters the street market.

The arrest also fits into a broader enforcement push along Eureka’s U.S. Highway 101 corridor. City officials have described Operation Gateway 101 as a collaborative effort involving the Eureka Police Department, Public Works, Code Enforcement, other city departments and community partners, aimed at traffic safety and quality-of-life problems on the city’s main entrance corridor. In March, EPD Commander Leonard La France told the City Council the corridor had seen 10 fatal traffic collisions since 2020, including five pedestrian deaths, three bicyclist deaths and two driver deaths.

The department’s Community Safety Engagement Team, created in July 2018, has focused on Old Town Eureka, the waterfront and city parks to address crime and disorder problems. Eureka police say the May 4 operation was part of that same pattern of targeted, grant-funded enforcement rather than a one-off sweep. The department received about $170,000 from the California Department of Justice’s Proposition 56 Tobacco Grant Program for fiscal year 2025-26, funding that now appears to be helping support patrols meant to disrupt open-air dealing in visible parts of the city.