Utah man arrested after high-speed chase on Interstate 84 in Baker County
Published 10:02 am Tuesday, August 1, 2023
- Local law enforcement are maintaining regular patrols in Baker City and Baker County during the coronavirus crisis.
A Utah man was arrested for reckless driving after a high-speed chase on Interstate 84 through Baker County Monday night, July 31.
Samuel Marshall Thompson, 41, of Holladay, Utah, was arrested about 9:30 p.m. at the Baker Valley Rest Area, about nine miles north of Baker City. He is charged with attempting to elude police as well as reckless driving.
Thompson, who was being pursued by Baker City Police officers Emily Oller and Koby Essex, exited the westbound freeway and, after initially refusing to leave the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu sedan he was driving, complied with officers’ commands and was arrested, Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby said Tuesday morning, Aug. 1.
Thompson was taken to the Baker County Jail. He has a pending charge for a weapons offense in Bakersfield, California, according to court records.
The incident started more than 50 miles southeast of Baker City, on the freeway near Milepost 356 just east of Farewell Bend, Duby said.
An Oregon State Police trooper tried to stop Thompson’s car on suspicion that he was intoxicated, Duby said. According to a probable cause affidavit written by Oller, the trooper told her that Thompson was driving about 35 mph on the freeway, but then accelerated to about 86 mph, just before the trooper tried to stop Thompson’s car.
Thompson refused to pull over, and after a brief pursuit the trooper ceased chasing the suspect, Duby said. The trooper continued to drive west on the freeway, however, following the suspect.
Oller, meanwhile, heard about the pursuit on police radio around 9 p.m., and she parked her patrol car beside the freeway at the Campbell Street interchange, exit 304, according to her probable cause affidavit.
Oller wrote that as she was parked beside the freeway, she saw a silver Chevrolet Malibu drive past, westbound on the freeway.
Her radar showed a speed of 94 mph.
Oller followed the vehicle. She wrote that its speed fluctuated between 86 mph and 103 mph.
As the Malibu neared the rest area it slowed down, signalled a turn and pulled into the rest area, Oller wrote.
After Essex and two OSP troopers arrived, they ordered Thompson to get out of his car, after which he was arrested.
