LAPEER, Mich. – A Michigan driver reached speeds of nearly 120 mph and cut through a corn field during a police chase that ended when he crashed into a water-filled drainage ditch and jumped into a pond, officials said.
The chase began after police received a call at 10:13 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 6) about a 2015 Chevrolet Malibu driving at excessive speeds and ignoring traffic lights along Nepessing Street in Lapeer, according to deputies.
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Lapeer officers and Michigan State Police troopers said they located the Malibu speeding while in a 25 mph section of Nepessing Street.
When the Malibu turned east on Bowers Road at 10:27 p.m., Lapeer County deputies said they tried to initiate a traffic stop.
Officials said the car fled and increased its speed to between 100 and 120 mph while in a 55 mph zone on Bowers Road. It turned north on Summers Road in Attica before traveling through a corn field where the road ends at Burnside Road in North Branch Township, according to authorities.
Police said the car returned to the roadway and traveled west on Burnside Road.
The Malibu veered north off the roadway after it passed Lake Pleasant Road, officials said. It crashed into a water-filled drainage ditch at 10:41 p.m., police said.
The driver, Bryan Sorby, 20, of North Branch Township, got out of the Malibu and ran into a pond, according to deputies. He eventually complied with commands, returned to shore and was taken into custody, officials said.
The passenger, Adam Kreiner, 18, of North Branch Township, started to run away in the drainage ditch but then complied with deputy commands, authorities said. He was taken into custody without incident.
Police said Sorby and Kreiner were taken to the Lapeer County Jail, where authorities determined alcohol was a factor.
The Lapeer County Prosecutor’s Office issued formal charges Monday, and the men were arraigned at 71-A District Court.
Sorby is charged with third-degree fleeing, assaulting and resisting a police officer, and operating while intoxicated. He is being held on $10,000 bond.
Kreiner is charged with assaulting or resisting a police officer. His bond was set at $1,000. Police said Kreiner posted bond and was released.
Both men are scheduled to return to court Nov. 19, officials said.
