Man arrested in Belfield high-speed chase; investigation includes prior crimes

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A Dickinson man is in custody following a high-speed pursuit that included smashing through fences, a trip across a golf course, curb jumping and ended in a foot-chase in Belfield Sunday morning.

“We are investigating stolen property as a result of some prior burglaries that happened in the area, county and the city (Dickinson),” Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said.

No one was injured in the incident.

Resident Shilo O’Brien watched the Ford scream past his Belfield home at about 70 mph, he said.

“I have kids,” O’Brien said. “Luckily they weren’t outside. It was pretty intense.”

The pursuit started in rural Stark County, Tuhy said. Besides a road chase, the man made his way across the Pheasant Country Golf Course in South Heart.

Phoebe Kuntz and family live near Hole 11. She and her husband Ross were outside for a morning cup of coffee when they saw the white truck without a box make its way across the course. At first, they thought there was an emergency.

They knew it was something else after the driver crashed the truck through a fence, over a tee box and “he spun a little cookie on Hole 12,” Phoebe said. “He was pretty entertaining.” Their children got out binoculars.

“We watched him kind of tool his way through the golf course,” she said. “It was pretty intense.”

O’Brien said there are skid marks in the Belfield alleys and he never wants to see an incident like that again.

“It was very reckless,” he said.

The Dickinson Police Department was involved in a warrant and search of the location where the chase initiated near South Heart, Dickinson Police Department Capt. David Wilkie said.

The vehicle was stolen more than a week ago and the other property in question is at a farmyard, Tuhy said.

Police impounded the truck as evidence.

“Eventually the owner will get it back,” Wilkie said, adding in some cases the state’s attorney can release it back if it becomes a hardship for the person it was stolen from.

Tuhy would not release further details because it is under investigation, he said. A number of people blame crimes on an increase in oil activity in the area and this crime and the man involved are not connected to the oil industry, he added.

“Everybody needs to be aware of what’s going on if they have questions they can call the sheriff’s office,” he said. The office number is 701-456-7610.

Tags: news, tuhy, crime, belfield, local