State Of Washington v. Thomas Joseph Feely

¶1 Under RCW 9.94A.834, a trial court may impose an endangerment enhancement for the crime of attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle when “one or more persons other than the defendant or the pursuing law enforcement officer” were endangered by the actions of the defendant during the commission of the crime. We conclude the plain meaning of the enhancement extends to endangering officers who were not following the defendant. Therefore, we reject Thomas Feely’s claim of prosecutorial misconduct for arguing to the jury that officers who deployed spike strips were endangered by his driving.