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High-speed chase ends in arrest
Published 9:47am Monday, December 24, 2012A Kansas man was arrested near Hankinson, N.D. after leading law enforcement on a vehicle chase that saw speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.
Late Friday night, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office received reports that a white pickup was traveling more than 100 miles per hour southbound on Interstate 29 near the Cass and Richland County border.
Deputies encountered the pickup near the Great Bend exit and observed that the vehicle was still traveling at an extremely high rate of speed and began to pursue the vehicle.
Several times during the chase, the pickup attempted to ram the deputies’ vehicles. A registration check of the pickup’s license plate indicated that the vehicle was stolen the same evening from Jamestown, N.D.
The high-speed pursuit continued to near the South Dakota border where the pickup exited Interstate 29 and took the chase to township roads.
Eventually the stolen pickup became stuck in deep snow on a minimum maintenance road about 7 miles southeast of Hankinson. The suspect exited the vehicle and fled on foot into a slough area.
An extensive search was conducted throughout the evening by the Richland County Sheriff’s office and North Dakota Highway Patrol. A fixed wing aircraft with inferred imaging capabilities was used in the search. The Highway Service of Hankinson also assisted by provided several snowmobiles.
Michael Stevens Owens, 39, of Bonner Springs, Kan. was found and arrested at about 8 a.m. Saturday in an abandoned farm house about three miles from where the stolen pickup got stuck.
Owens is being held at the Richland County Jail pending formal charges of possession of stolen property, fleeing and criminal trespassing.
The incident remains under investigation.
