Pursuit

At around 12:40 p.m. on July 12th, police were dispatched to 3888 East Highway 44 for a report of drug activity occurring in the parking lot. On arrival, police made contact with an employee of the business who told police they observed a female exit a Nissan Maxima in the parking lot. The employee reported seeing a loaded syringe on the ground near the driver’s side door prior to calling police. The responding officer began to approach the Maxima, and while doing so, the vehicle backed out of the spot. The officer indicated to the occupants of the vehicle why he was called there, and asked the driver to park the vehicle. The driver said they would, but instead, sped out of the parking lot. The officer observed the syringe in the parking lot and quickly recovered it before looking for the fleeing vehicle. Several bystanders signaled to the officer that the vehicle headed westbound on School Drive. The vehicle was spotted at the intersection of Twilight Drive and East Highway 44. It turned eastbound on East Highway 44 and the officer attempted to stop the vehicle. The vehicle did not stop and continued along East Highway 44. Shortly after the vehicle passed the intersection with 161st Avenue, a Tactical Vehicle Intervention (a pursuit driving technique in which an officer uses their patrol vehicle to gently nudge the rear end of a fleeing vehicle into a controlled spin in order to end a pursuit) was conducted on the fleeing vehicle. The TVI was successful in bringing the vehicle to a stop. Both occupants were ordered out of the vehicle and taken into custody without further incident. The driver was identified as 23-year-old Wendy Johnson of Rapid City, and the passenger was identified as 34-year-old Evan Brownbull of Rapid City. During the course of the pursuit, law enforcement witnessed Brownbull throw several items from the passenger window of the vehicle.  Both Johnson and Brownbull were found to have active warrants, and a search of the vehicle turned up a pill bottle containing the controlled substance Carisoprodol. The syringe located in the parking lot field-tested positive for both methamphetamine and heroin. A search of the area covered in the pursuit turned up a loaded handgun and several rounds of ammunition. Johnson was placed under arrest for Aggravated Eluding, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Failure to Obey Traffic Signal, three Warrants and a Probation Violation. Brownbull was placed under arrest for Possession of a Controlled Substance, Littering, and a Warrant.