Man Arrested After High-Speed Chase, Crash In Adams County

A Portland, Oregon man is in jail after police say he led them on a high-speed pursuit through parts of Western Adams County on Sunday afternoon.

The incident began on U.S. Highway 395 (U.S. 395) near Lind at around 12:20 p.m. when deputies with the Adams County Sheriff's Office attempted to stop a sedan with no license plates and called the Washington State Patrol (WSP) for assistance after the driver failed to comply.

"A retired trooper saw the vehicle go by him at well over 105 miles per hour," says WSP Sergeant Greg Riddell. "One of our units then clocked the vehicle in excess of 150 miles per hour."

Riddell says the egregious nature of the speeds prompted pursuing deputies to observe the vehicle rather than actively try to stop it.

"These are hard situations when you have a vehicle go by you at such high rates of speed. We have several legal prongs where reckless behavior other than speed or potential DUI allows us to pursue, but we didn't really have anything like that in this case - just the incredibly-high speeds. So it's hard because we're forced to hang back and observe until we have another reason to pursue or until there's a collision involved."

Within 30 minutes, the BMW had collided with at least two vehicles traveling south on U.S. 395 and eventually struck a guardrail and became disabled.

Following the crash, the driver - 33-year-old Isaac D. Burks - fled on foot but was apprehended a short time later.

Miraculously, neither Burks nor the female passenger in his vehicle or the occupants of the two vehicles that he struck during the pursuit were injured.

Burks was booked into the Adams County Jail on charges of felony eluding, DUI, and hit-and-run.

Officers from the Connell Police Department and deputies from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office also assisted in the pursuit.