On July 14th at round 12:55 a.m., police observed a Subaru passenger vehicle make an improper right hand turn From Lacrosse Street onto E. North Street. Police attempted to stop the vehicle. The Subaru turned into the parking lot at 525 E. North Street, but did not stop. It then Continued back onto Lacrosse Street. Police pursued the vehicle through the city’s northeast side. While northbound on Elk Vale Road, the vehicle attempted to turn east on the I-90 service road north of the interstate. The vehicle did not negotiate the turn and ended up going into a ditch and crashing through a wooded fence. The suspect driver then drove through a nearby parking lot to turn southbound back onto Elk Vale Road. While southbound on Elk Vale Drive, deputies of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office positioned themselves to deploy spike strips. Two spike strip deployments were successful in deflating the tires on the suspect vehicle./ The Subaru turned east onto Concourse drive and a pursuing officer was able to conduct a Tactical Vehicle Intervention on the vehicle (a TVI is when an officer uses their patrol vehicle to nudge the suspect vehicle into a spin in order to bring a pursuit to an end). The TVI was successful, and the vehicle came to a stop. A high risk stop was conducted and the occupants were ordered out of the vehicle. The driver was identified as 28-year-old Clarence Ferris of Rapid City. A search of Ferris’ person turned up drug paraphernalia. A search of the vehicle turned up a jeweler’s baggie containing a substance field-testing positive for methamphetamine. All-in-all, Ferris was placed under arrest for Aggravated Eluding, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Ingestion of a Controlled Substance, Ingestion of a Substance to Intoxicate, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The two other occupants of the vehicle are identified as 21-year-old Amanda Hart and 35-year-old Mega McCloskey, both of Rapid City. They were both placed under arrest for existing warrants. All three were transported to the Pennington County Jail.
