A gas drive-off in Rio led to a high-speed chase through Columbia County at speeds around 120 mph between authorities and a man still on the loose late Sunday night.

Columbia County Sheriff's Department Lt. Wayne Smith said the man authorities were chasing jumped out of his pickup after driving it the wrong way up an off-ramp of Interstate 39 at Highway 16 and took off into the darkness near the Portage Industrial Park. Sheriff's deputies and Portage police officers still were looking for the man Sunday night, including setting up a looking post on the top of the Dawn's Foods building and bringing in canine units and a thermal-imaging camera.

Smith, who was tailing the man on Highway 127, said an ATV in the back of the man's pickup fell out of the vehicle at one high-speed turn and crashed into his cruiser.

"That never happened before," Smith said Sunday while assisting the search and investigation into the incident. "He also threw a gas can at me."

Smith said the man threw the gas can out of his pickup at the following cruiser during the pursuit.

As sheriff's deputies and Portage police officers set up checkpoints with their cruisers, the black, older-model Ford pickup truck sped along Route 127 past Columbia Correctional Institution toward Highway 16.

The truck then turned up the off-ramp of Interstate 39, eventually driving onto a hilly embankment separating Highway 16 from Interstate 39 after Smith purposely hit the rear of the man's vehicle to stop it - a maneuver he employed when it became clear the man would be driving into oncoming traffic.

The man ran across Highway 16 toward CCI, authorities said, with a sheriff's deputy chasing after him across the highway from the point where the man abandoned his vehicle.

The suspect was described as a light-skinned white man with light-colored, possibly blond, hair. He was wearing multi-colored shorts, possibly with an urban-camouflage design, with a dark shirt. The pickup was described as a black Ford with a Nevada license plate.

After the man jumped out of his truck around 8 p.m. authorities and Portage firefighters searched the Portage Industrial Park. They checked doors of buildings and cars and walked with flashlights and a canine unit through unlit areas.

Late Sunday, authorities set up a perimeter around the city's northwestern side, calling in areas that had been checked and following up on resident tips. Authorities also were checking into possible security camera footage from industrial park businesses to help track the man.

The incident started with the report of a gas drive-off in Rio around 7:30 p.m., Smith said. The man reportedly fled from authorities at speeds more than 100 mph, reportedly hitting 120 mph in the area of Silver Lake Drive in Portage.

"It was a long pursuit. He was extremely reckless," Smith said. "He was driving into traffic head-on."

Authorities laid out spike strips several times in attempts to slow the man down.

Smith said he was unsure why the man fled authorities over a gas drive-off.

"We're still trying to sort this out," Smith said. "It's a mess. I don't know what this guy's situation was, but he was really trying to get away."

 

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