Orondo Man Leads Troopers on Short Chase

An Orondo man with a history of driving on a suspended license took Washington State Patrol troopers on a short chase last week.

Juan Manuel Rodriguez Garcia was initially pulled over 10 miles north of Orondo. As the trooper approached the vehicle Garcia took off again in his Jeep Liberty.

When the vehicle was pulled over again between two orchards on Sandy Shores Road, Garcia and his passenger did not respond to commands. Eventually, a Spanish-speaking officer from Douglas County was brought in, and Garcia was arrested on charges including driving with a suspended license, felony eluding, obstruction and reckless driving.

"No one got hurt. Nobody got involved in a collision or anything. It was just a driver who that I think knew had a pretty bad history of driving and maybe didn't want to get stop because he didn't want to go to jail." Trooper John Bryant said, "Well, he ended up going to jail anyway. Thankfully he just decided to pull over and get it over with versus having something really bad happen that would have maybe involved an innocent party."

Garcia was booked into Chelan County Regional Justice Center.