[whited44]

I agree with what Richard said another thing you did not say if the compressor was running when the current went up if the call for cooling ended the compressor would of shut off if it tried to start before the pressures equalized you would get high current, you might want to try a hard start kit, Try to find a  clamp on ammeter that does both AC and DC they don't all do DC

From what I could tell the compressor was NOT running when it started to act up.