ST. CHARLES, Minn. — The driver of a stolen truck evaded police for 74 miles and refused to give up even after police spike-strips punctured three of his tires. Ordered to exit the disabled truck, the driver refused. Officers fired a marble-like pellet into the truck’s back window and shattered a hole, then lobbed pepper balls into the cab. The driver finally stumbled out. He was arrested. The chase began in LaCrescent about 7:20 a.m. and ended nearly 1-1/2 hours later near St. Charles. The driver, 44-year-old Matthew Richard Davis, of LaCrescent, was taken to jail. The chase began while LaCrescent police were looking for a white Ford pickup that had been reported stolen. The chase was mostly on Interstate 90, at one point with the driver going the way on the divided highway. The pursuing LaCrescent officer notified other agencies to make an interception, but the driver turned around near Eyota, 60 miles from where the chase began, and headed back east toward Wisconsin. The spike strips flattened three tires on the way back — on the second passing of St. Charles — but the driver kept going on the rims until the vehicle just wouldn’t not go any more. The eastbound lanes of I-90, heading toward Wisconsin, were blocked briefly for the police emergency.
Spike strips. Every police vehicle is equipped with a portable rolled-up spike-strip to lay in the path of a pursued vehicle. A punctured tire will stop a vehicle, usually within a few yards..