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Local News

PUBLISHED: Wednesday, April 18, 2007
4 nabbed in 100-mph chase



FREMONT TWP. - A high-speed pursuit that spanned 50-miles through three counties Friday ended in Fremont Township with a foot race won by police.

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Sanilac County Central Dispatch received a call at 11:55 a.m. requesting assistance in stopping a stolen Ford Explorer being pursued east across Lapeer County. Four male suspects in the vehicle allegedly committed a home invasion in Genesee County and fled to the east, said Sanilac County Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Rich.

The suspects were arrested after the chase that lasted 55 minutes. They were identified as three adults, approximately 18 years old - two from Flint and one from Port Huron - and one juvenile from Genesee County.

The pursuit wound through Genesee and Lapeer counties, with the suspect vehicle chased by six police cars from Mount Morris Township and Lapeer County. They approached Sanilac County west of Brown City on M-90 and continued through town at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

"I heard a siren and I thought it was the fire department," said David VanCura, an administrative assistant at City Hall in Brown City, who watched the chase out the window.

"When the first car went by at such a high speed, I thought Ôthat can't be right.'

There were five police cars right behind it. It was just one right after the other."

The pursuit continued east on M-90 towards Shephard Road, where spike strips were set up.

However, the Explorer continued over the spike strips without puncturing a tire.

The suspects continued

driving east on M-90, eventually turning on a dirt road and connecting with Gardner Line Road, where they continued to head east at a high rate of speed.

When the suspect vehicle was just north of Roseburg, between Brown and Bricker Roads, the suspects abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot.

"I think they just realized how many cars were closing in on them and decided to bail out on foot," Rich said.

The suspects were chased on foot through a small wood lot. Within 10 minutes and the use of a tazer on one man, all four were apprehended and transported to the Genesee County Jail.

No one was injured in the chase.

The four are also suspects in three other car thefts in the Lapeer area and at least one more home invasion committed earlier Friday in Mount Morris Township, police said.

The chase began when a resident in Genesee County's Mount Morris Township reported a suspicious vehicle at a residence. Mount Morris officers spotted the vehicle, a 2006 Ford Explorer with no plates, leaving the area. They attempted to stop the vehicle but the driver refused to pull over.

No Sanilac County officers participated directly in the chase. The Sanilac County Sheriff Department and police departments from Brown City, Marlette, Croswell and Lexington helped to seal off the area.





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