By Nick Draper
The Idaho Falls Post Register
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — It took authorities two sets of road spikes to end a high-speed chase Saturday night.
Erick R. Lee, 25, allegedly kidnapped a few people and fled from Idaho Falls police officers in a blue Pontiac at 10:05 p.m., just before the authorities arrived at a house party at 740 Saturn Ave.
The IFPD caught up with the vehicle at U.S. Highway 20 and Science Center Drive but discontinued the pursuit, which at times reached 70 mph, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Sgt. Doug Metcalf said.
The officers, Metcalf said, didn’t know that Lee’s passengers — 19-year-old Jonathan Herrera, a 17-year-old male, a 17-year-old female and a 15-year-old female — were being held against their will.
That changed a few moments later when someone inside the car called dispatch.
The IFPD resumed the chase and was assisted by the Bonneville County sheriff’s office as the pursuit moved out of Idaho Falls.
At the intersection of Lincoln Road and Crowley Road, a sheriff’s deputy threw down a set of spike strips, flattening three of Lee’s tires.
But Lee turned north on Crowley Road and kept driving toward U.S. Highway 26.
At that intersection, Idaho State Police troopers threw down another set of spike strips and flattened the last inflated tire.
The 17-year-old male was the first out of Lee’s 1988 Pontiac once it stopped a half-mile from the ISP’s set of spike strips.
Lee got out of the car next, told the officers to shoot him and was hit with a Taser by an IFPD officer, according to a news release.
The two females got out of the car without incident, but Herrera refused to exit the vehicle.
A sheriff’s deputy then hit Herrera with a Taser and he was taken into custody, the news release stated.
Lee was charged with misdemeanor eluding officers, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to purchase a driver’s license. He also faces felony charges of eluding officers and kidnapping.
Herrera was charged with misdemeanor resisting and obstructing officers, and the 15-year-old female was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for failing to appear in court.
The names of the minors involved weren’t released.
Copyright 2007 Idaho Falls Post Register