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Wanted Man Leads High-Speed Pursuit in Luzerne County

FREELAND — Police in Luzerne County are still searching for a man who they say rammed the Freeland police chief’s cruiser and led a dozen officers o...
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FREELAND -- Police in Luzerne County are still searching for a man who they say rammed the Freeland police chief's cruiser and led a dozen officers on a nine-mile chase Wednesday morning.

It ended with the fleeing car crashing, but the driver was able to escape and again flee, this time running away.

This all happened just after 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Freeland borough police attempted to pull over a car with a man they believe is wanted. That man decided he wasn't stopping, ramming the police cruiser, and starting the chase.

Diamond Avenue in Hazleton is a busy street, and the place where the high-speed police chase ended when the man being followed crashed his car.

"He was going faster than a racecar," said Michael Reich. "I never seen a car go that fast right next to me. It was faster than you would see a car go on the interstate."

Reich saw the chase as he was turning onto Diamond Avenue from Seybert Street.

Police confirm at times the driver in this chase was speeding through Freeland and into Hazleton going over 100 miles per hour.

"Of course, he was trying to pass traffic, going in the opposite lane. I saw him just barely miss a head-on crash by, it couldn't have been any more than a few inches."

The chase ended along Diamond Avenue and Seybert Street. The driver was going so fast that it wasn't safe for police to follow so closely. So he had a leg up, and even though two airbags deployed he was able to bail out and run.

"We were the assisting agency in this pursuit. We knew it was coming into our city," said Hazleton Police Chief Jerry Speziale. "We wanted to make sure we didn't endanger the citizens, and wanted to make sure we shut it down as quick as we could."

Hazleton and West Hazleton police were called in as backup in the chase.

Freeland borough police chose to pursue the driver because he was wanted on a felony warrant and because when they tried to pick him up,  the wanted man rammed into a Freeland police cruiser.

"If it was just a simple stop, and he went around us or whatever, fine. But once you rammed my vehicle, that's it," said Freeland Borough Police Chief Michael Harris.  "He had total disregard for any kind of human life, when you ram a police vehicle with two officers in it.  (So it was important) to get him off the road."

Police believe they know who the suspect is, but are choosing not to release his identity at this time.

They are still searching for him.

Police will not say what crime he was wanted for in the first place, but if he's caught he'll face a new slew of felony charges.

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