SWAT team called when suspect speeds off

A 24-year-old Port Orchard man who led police on a high-speed chase down Pottery Avenue Saturday afternoon was arrested on drug and weapon charges after a SWAT team was called to coax him out of his home.

Ryan Mark Jensen, 24, was charged with attempting to elude a police officer, manufacturing methamphetamine, and for unlawful possession of a firearm, all three felonies.

He was held on $85,000 bail.

According to the Port Orchard Police Department report, the incident began around 3:30 p.m. Saturday when an officer spotted Jensen allegedly passing a vehicle on the right while driving a red, four-door Nissan Sentra eastbound on Tremont Street.

With the officer in pursuit, the suspect then turned left against a red light onto Pottery, speeding up to 80 mph in a 25-mph zone before swerving into the oncoming lane in order to complete a right turn onto Melcher Street at a high rate of speed.

At this point, the officer lost sight of the vehicle, but within minutes located it parked at a residence on the 1300 block of Sherman Avenue with the assistance of several witnesses.

By the time the officer arrived, the car was empty.

The officer then knocked on the door and spoke to the woman who answered, whom officers identified as the registered owner of the car.

She claimed no one had been driving the car recently, and it had been parked there for the last hour and a half.

She told the officer there was no man in her house.

By this time, another officer had arrived on scene and noticed a bullet and an automatic rifle in the car.

In the trunk, which was unlocked, the officer discovered several items known to be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

When officers knocked on her door again, the woman refused to open the door and spoke to the officers through a window. She again claimed no one was home but her.

Officers returned to the house that evening with a search warrant, but when the occupants did not answer repeated attempts to contact them, a SWAT team and negotiator responded to the scene.

After several calls were made to them on both the phone and a loud speaker, the three occupants of the home — Jensen, the owner of the car and another woman — finally exited.

After expanding the scope of their warrant, the officers searched the home and discovered several more items, including several hundred cold tablets, along with several bottles, bongs and various other items used in either the manufacture or use of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs.

Jensen was then booked into Kitsap County Jail.

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