STURGIS, Mich (February 20, 2014) – A driver involved in a hit and run crash in Sturgis earlier this week did everything he could not to get caught by police, partly because he knew he was wanted for violating his parole just two weeks earlier.
Around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, officers in Sturgis were called to the intersection of Lafayette Street and Center Avenue Street for a hit and run crash involving a green 1998 Dodge truck. A sergeant with the Sturgis Police Department driving an unmarked police cruiser spotted the truck at Center Avenue and Jerolene Street and attempted a traffic stop using his lights and sirens, but the driver of the truck kept going.
The truck fled south on Center Avenue, turning east on Main Street, then north on Lakeview Avenue, then east again on Lafayette Street, reaching speeds of 70 miles-per-hour as he went by the Sturgis Middle School nearby.
The chase continued east on Lafayette Street out of the city until an officer in a marked Sturgis Police cruiser was able to take over the pursuit at Lafayette near Sweet Lake Road.
The chase continued east then north on Spaid Road, east on Witt Lake Road, north on Robinson, then west on Kelly Road.
Another officer attempted to use stop sticks at Kelly Road and Big Hill Road, which the truck avoided turning west onto Witt Lake Road heading back into the City of Sturgis.
The driver turned south onto Lakeview Avenue before responding officers were able to box the suspect vehicle in, forcing the truck into a snow bank near Lakeview Avenue and Allendale Court just north of the City.
The driver, later identified as 38-year-old Randall Darwin Wood of Leonidas Township, was taken into custody shortly after the crash into the snow bank. Michigan Department of Corrections records show he violated his parole on February 5, 2014 for a previous conviction for Possession of Methamphetamine.
Wood is behind bars in the St. Joseph County Jail, and will face additional charges after the chase including Fleeing and Eluding Police.
The dash camera footage of the chase and arrest is in the video player above.
