An Idaho man was arrested Friday, Feb. 7, for drunken driving, attempting to elude police, reckless driving and other charges after failing to stop for an Oregon State Police trooper on Interstate 84 near Baker City and allegedly nearly hitting another car on the freeway.

Philip Stewart Royal, 33, of Mountain Home, was arrested about 12:11 p.m. on Chandler Lane about 1 mile west of Interstate 84 near the Medical Springs exit, Milepost 298.

He is scheduled to be in Baker County Circuit Court for a probable cause preliminary hearing Feb. 18 at 1:15 p.m.

According to a report from OSP Sgt. Clay Stevens, police had a driving complaint, near Milepost 306, relayed by the dispatch officer.

The caller told a dispatcher she was driving on the freeway, with her daughter as a passenger, when a Lexus SUV with Idaho plates twice nearly hit her vehicle.

The woman told the dispatcher that the Lexus didn’t stay in one lane, and that she thought the driver was intoxicated.

Stevens wrote in a probable cause affidavit that he parked on Campbell Street with a view of the freeway, near Milepost 304, and saw a Lexus, driving west on the freeway. He measured the car’s speed at 89 mph.

Stevens tried to stop the car, turning on emergency lights and siren, but the driver didn’t stop, although the vehicle slowed.

Stevens wrote that he pulled beside the Lexus. The driver, he wrote, “ignored me and appeared lethargic, and I was certain he knew I was attempting to conduct a lawful traffic stop.”

The car exited the freeway at the Medical Springs interchange, about 6 miles north of Campbell Street, and drove west on Chandler Lane. It later pulled to the right shoulder and stopped, where Stevens arrested Royal, who was driving.

“During my contact with Philip, I could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from him/the car, he had a lethargic look at times, his eyes were bloodshot-watery-glassy, slurred speech, repetitive questions/statements and his emotions were cycling from crying to angry,” Stevens wrote.

Stevens drove Royal to the Baker County Jail, where he refused to give a breath sample. Stevens obtained a search warrant for a sample of Royal’s blood.

Royal is also charged with speeding, import/export of marijuana items, refusing to take a breath test, and recklessly endangering another person. The last charge is based on the woman who told a dispatcher that the Lexus had nearly hit her car twice.