High-speed chase ends in crash
MANKATO — A wanted man led authorities on a chase that reached up to 120 mph before it ended in a crash in Mankato early Wednesday morning.
The fleeing driver and his passenger were not injured, but the driver was taken to the hospital after reportedly swallowing heroin.
Artavies Raymone Montrell Moore, 23, of Minneapolis, was charged Thursday with felony counts of fleeing police, false imprisonment and damage to public safety vehicles in Blue Earth County District Court. He also is charged with gross misdemeanor giving a false name to police and misdemeanor violating a restraining order.
According to the court complaint:
A Madison Lake police officer heard about a pursuit on Highway 60 in Rice County just before midnight. The pursuit was called off after the driver sped over 100 mph.
The Madison Lake officer attempted to stop a speeding vehicle around midnight and realized it was the vehicle that had fled. The officer as well as State Patrol troopers and a Blue Earth County sheriff’s deputy resumed the pursuit, which reached up to 120 mph and continued onto westbound Highway 14
Assisting authorities deployed spike sticks that destroyed the Cadillac’s tires west of Eagle Lake. But the driver, later identified as Moore, kept going. Two pursuing squads also struck the stop sticks and had to leave the pursuit and be towed from the scene.
Moore continued at around 80 mph on rims with no tires through Mankato. Moore lost control, hit a divider barrier and came to a stop at the Highway 169 interchange.
Moore and a passenger were taken into custody. Moore gave a false name to police. A dispatcher ran that name and discovered that person had a warrant for also giving a false name. The person previously had given Moore’s name.
Officers viewed photos on file of Moore and of the name he gave to determine the driver’s true identity.
Moore was taken to a hospital after telling officers he swallowed heroin. He told hospital staff he was attempting to commit suicide by cop. He was released from the hospital and booked into jail Wednesday.
The passenger in the Cadillac said she was asleep, awoke as the chase started and asked Moore to stop. She told officers she thought she was going to die.
A restraining order is in place and Moore was not supposed to have any contact with the passenger.
Moore has a long criminal history and multiple warrants that include failing to appear at a hearing on fleeing police charges filed last year in Hennepin County.
Charges have not been filed in Rice County in connection to the alleged first leg of the chase.
