Oak Harbor man charged after high-speed police chase through town

A red light at Highway 20 and Northeast Midway set off a chase that cut through Oak Harbor neighborhoods, past stop signs and through a 25 mph zone, before ending in a parking lot off Highway 20.

Prosecutors filed a charge of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle against Scott Cole, 37, in Island County Superior Court on May 9. Police said the morning pursuit began May 6 when Oak Harbor Police Department Officer Markiese Smith saw Cole drive northbound through the red light. Smith also reported that Cole’s vehicle had only one working headlight.

According to the report, Smith was about 20 feet behind the vehicle when he activated his emergency lights. Cole then turned onto Northeast Narrows Avenue and accelerated through a residential neighborhood posted at 25 miles per hour. Smith said the car went through multiple stop signs and at one point was about 400 feet ahead of the patrol car. Another officer joined the pursuit before Cole finally pulled into a parking lot on Highway 20.

Cole later told police he had not seen the emergency lights and said he had forgotten something at home. The report also said the route he took went in the opposite direction from his address. Prosecutors identified him as an Oak Harbor resident with no criminal history.

Under Washington law, attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle is a class C felony when a driver willfully refuses to stop and drives recklessly after being signaled by an officer in uniform whose vehicle is equipped with lights and sirens. State sentencing materials classify it as a seriousness level I offense, with a standard range of zero to 60 days for a first-time offender. The statutory maximum is five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

The case also lands in the middle of a broader state debate over when police chases are worth the risk. Washington’s pursuit law, revised in 2024, says officers may not begin a vehicular pursuit unless they have reasonable suspicion, need the pursuit to identify or apprehend the driver, and determine that the danger of not pursuing outweighs the risk of the chase. Supervisors must also weigh speed, weather, traffic, road conditions and whether minors are in the vehicle.

That balance matters in Oak Harbor, where the July 1, 2024 population estimate was 24,163, and Island County’s was 86,478. In a city of that size, a pursuit along a major corridor and into residential streets can quickly turn from a traffic stop into a community safety problem for drivers, pedestrians and anyone crossing those blocks.