After a two hour chase up Highway 395 at speeds higher than 95 miles per hour, Nevada Highway Patrolmen held achp_logoRidgecrest man at gunpoint and then arrested him. CHP officers in Inyo had chased the driver from the Olancha area to Highway 6.

In heavy Labor Day traffic, the driver of a White F350 pick-up attracted the attention of CHP Officer Dugan at 11:13 am. The southbound officer saw the northbound pick-up zip past him at 90 mph in the two-lane 55 mile per hour section in Olancha. The officer turned around and hit the accelerator. The pick-up driver continued to zoom along over 90 mph, passing back and forth in two-lane sections. Officer Dennis Cleland said the man picked up speed to 95 mph in the four-lane section near Lone Pine.

That’s when Officer Dugan caught up with the man who the CHP believes first saw the CHP in pursuit. The driver sped on, turned into the town streets and back out on the highway, continuing to weave in and out of traffic. The CHP laid down a spike strip in the area of the aqueduct, but the man avoided it and sped on through Independence, into the Indian Reservation and back out on the highway. Officer Cleland said the man kept up the 90 to 95 mph speeds, avoided two more spike strips – south and north of Big Pine.

The speeder turned into city streets in Bishop and back out onto the Highway. At one point he called the CHP dispatch to say he was afraid of officers chasing him. The man then headed out Highway 6. Mono County officers were notified. Eventually the Nevada Highway Patrol put down a spike strip, blocked the highway and the man stopped. Officer Cleland said the pursued man refused to get out of his truck for 20 more minutes. The NHP held him at gunpoint and finally physically removed him from the truck. He was jailed in Hawthorne, Nevada.

The manis 39 years old. His name has not yet been released. The local CHP says they would charge the man with evading officers, driving under the influence and resisting arrest.

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