A McAlester man led police on a high speed chase and ran roadblocks over two counties on Tuesday afternoon — before Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers stopped him by setting a spike strip in the road and performing a “tactical vehicle intervention.”
The incident began in McAlester and ended up in the vicinity of the Indian Nation Turnpike in McIntosh County, said McAlester Police Det. Capt. Gary Wansick.
Following the high speed chase, OHP troopers arrested Andrew Soria, 22, of McAlester, and transported him to the McIntosh County Jail, Wansick said.
Troopers arrested Soria on a variety of initial complaints, accusing him of driving without a license, failure to have vehicle insurance verification in his immediate possession, attempting to elude police and running roadblocks, according to Wansick.
“Speeds on the highway exceeded 100 miles per hour on several occasions,” said Wansick.
The incident began on Tuesday afternoon when officers with the McAlester Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit were conducting a traffic check on North Main Street, near Ashland Avenue, Wansick said.
“A gray Monte Carlo approached the location,” heading south into McAlester on U.S. Business 69, he said. When the driver spotted the traffic check, “he turned and proceeded in the opposite direction,” said Wansick.
McAlester police officers left the traffic check and pursued the Monte Carlo to determine why the driver had turned around, he said.
Pursuing police turned on their sirens and flashing lights, but the driver continued north and then east on U.S. Business 69, then continued east on a county road in the Buck’s of Gaines Creek area, police said.
At some point, the driver turned off on a road that made a loop, which then placed him heading back to the west on the same county road he had just traveled over, according to Wansick.
As the police pursuit continued behind him, the driver ran two road blocks which had been set up on the county road, Wansick said.
Meanwhile, officers with the Krebs Police Department and the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Department were assisting McAlester police, according to Wansick.
After running the two roadblocks on the county road, the driver turned north on U.S. Highway 69, Wansick said — the point where he said the speeds reached in excess of 100 mph.
Near the McIntosh County line at Eufaula, the driver ran a third roadblock, this one set up by OHP troopers, according to Wansick.
“At Eufaula, he went west on (State) Highway 9 and continued to an intersection of the Indian Nation Turnpike, where he ran a fourth roadblock,” Wansick said.
However, at the fourth roadblock, a trooper had set up spike strips, Wansick said, referring to strips with spikes placed in them, placed in the roadway and designed to deflate tires.
The spike strip deflated one of the tires and as the driver attempted to enter the turnpike, another trooper in a car executed a “tactical vehicle intervention technique,” Wansick said, referring to a move by the trooper to block or stop the fleeing driver.
“The car spun out and stopped and the driver was arrested,” said Wansick.
Charges are pending, he said.
Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.
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