A Clinton woman is facing charges in connection with a series of crimes she allegedly committed on South Whidbey Nov. 9 while under the influence of drugs, court documents indicate.
Karlyn J. Romain, 39, was charged in Island County Superior Court Nov. 13 with attempting to elude, harassment (threats to kill), reckless driving, hit and run, fourth-degree assault, malicious mischief in the third degree, DUI and resisting arrest.
A judge ordered Romain held Nov. 12 in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Deputy Sheriff Darren Crownover was one of several officers to respond to the incidents that began in the morning with reports of a white Lincoln Navigator being driven recklessly in the Freeland area.
About an hour later, a caller reported that a white SUV was involved in a hit-and-run accident on State Highway 525 at Midvale Road.
A few hours later, several callers reported that the vehicle went through a red light at a high rate of speed on Highway 525 at Maxwelton Road. A caller said the driver was parked at Ken’s Korner and the driver was smoking and drinking something.
Shortly afterward, the deputies received reports that the driver, later identified as Romain, was at the Langley Post Office.
Romain allegedly assaulted a postal employee, yelled at customers and damaged another car with her car door, Crownover wrote in his report.
The deputies responded to the post office, but Romain sped away. Crownover pursued her briefly on Camano Avenue, but broke off because she was driving more than 80 mph while pedestrians were in the area.
Crownover drove to her Clinton home and saw her run into the house. He went into the house after her; it took three officers to secure her in handcuffs while she was resisting, the report states.
Romain threatened to kill a deputy on the way to jail, the report states. She was “out of control” at the jail and was placed in the “behavior modification module,” Crownover wrote.
Romain allegedly admitted that she committed a hit-and-run and said “she would buy the person another vehicle,” the deputy wrote. She said she was driving erratically because a friend had died.
Romain allegedly tried to bite the arm of a phlebotomist during a blood draw at Whidbey General Hospital.
