Tulalip man sentenced to 4 years for carjacking

TULALIP — A Tulalip Tribes member was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison Tuesday for assaulting a driver during a carjacking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.

In February 2022, Michael J.D. Clark Jones, 32, was in a high-speed chase with police.

Jones was fleeing from Tulalip police when he crashed his car, injuring his girlfriend, said Emily Langlie, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Jones escaped into the woods and came to the home of a woman on the reservation. He told the woman he was injured in a boating accident and needed a ride, Langlie said. The woman obliged, and came across a Tribal Fish and Wildlife truck after driving a short distance.

The driver started to get out of the car to receive help from the fish and wildlife agents, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Jones lunged at her, trying to push her out of the car. To keep from falling, she grabbed the door handle and steering wheel, Langlie said.

Jones put the vehicle in drive and hit the gas pedal. The car accelerated and hit an embankment. Jones punched the woman’s hands to get them off the steering wheel and force her out of the car, according to the attorney’s office. When the car hit the embankment, the door closed on the woman and she fell from the car.

The force of the fall knocked the wind out of her, and she suffered back pain from the assault, Langlie said.

Tulalip police found the battered car and Jones at a house on the reservation. Jones told law enforcement that he fled because he just picked up 500 fentanyl pills.

Jones’ attorney said in court Tuesday that at the time of the high speed chase and carjacking, he was “smoking 100 fentanyl pills a day,” according to the attorney’s office.

U.S. District Court Judge John C. Coughenour said in court it is amazing Jones is still alive given his level of drug use.

Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.