March 23, 2010 DUI driver nabbed after high speed chase www.privateofficer.com
Wade Alen McElroy, 33, was arrested following multiple collisions near Second and Grand avenues.
Officers said he ran on foot from the crash site and hid while police stopped another pickup, which looked like the one McElroy was driving.
Security officers helped police locate McElroy, who was hiding behind a transformer station in the 800 block of Second Avenue.
McElroy was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, third or subsequent offense. He was previously arrested on charges of OWI, third or subsequent offense, on March 18, 2008, and July 12, 2008, according to jail records.
In addition, police charged him Monday night with eluding, reckless driving, failure to give aid and information at an accident scene, interference with official acts, probation violation, no driver’s license and failure to have insurance.
Police said McElroy was driving his girlfriend’s car. Shannon Sandberg was charged with allowing an unauthorized person to drive after officers found the following text message on McElroy’s cell phone: “You promised to not drink when you are driving the truck.” The message was sent Saturday.
Officer Eric Hartman said in a report that he started following McElroy about 10 p.m., when he clocked him traveling 44 mph in a 30 mph zone in the 4300 block of University Avenue.
The officer activated his lights and siren as the driver sped away from him.
The report says McElroy’s truck fishtailed during the chase. “The vehicle recovered and continued to accelerate very hard. By the time we reached the area around 28th and Grand eastbound I looked at my speedometer and we were going in excess of 100 mph. However, the vehicle was still pulling away from me and I was starting to lose sight of it.”
Hartman said the speeding truck began traveling the wrong way down Grand Avenue into downtown Des Moines.
“I had to back off because I could not see traffic signals … ” the officer said in the report. Other officers headed into the area to look for the fleeing driver.
“Officers indicated (by radio) that the truck had collided with a vehicle at Second and Grand Avenue and indicated they were taking one into custody,” the report said. “However, it turned out that a nearly identical truck was in the area and officers had stopped the wrong vehicle and failed to see the truck had veered off the road in the 100 block of Grand Avenue and crashed. When officers found the truck, the driver had fled the scene.”
Witnesses near the Downtown YMCA directed officers north where they eventually found a pair of security officers who told them a man was hiding behind a transformer.
Police said McElroy refused to remove his hands from his sweatshirt, so an officer gave him a squirt of pepper spray and took him to the ground. He was handcuffed without further incident.
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