Chase ends in jail

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A Marion teen was arrested and taken to jail Tuesday evening after a minutes-long chase that ended badly next to Wagon Wheel Express and a one-block foot pursuit afterward.

Marion officer Dustin Woodford noticed dust wafting over Main St. by Central Park — as if someone was driving donuts in the gravel — and went to investigate.

Joshua G. French, 18, driving a 2007 Ford F-150 with expired tags, fled west on Main St., then turned north on 3rd St., turned west in the alley between Main and Santa Fe Sts., drove two blocks in the alley before turning south on 1st St., and then turned west again on Main St.

His pickup smashed a small guardrail around a light pole at the corner of Main and Walnuts Sts. before careening over a sewer grate and across Walnut St.

At that time, traveling northwest with a flat tire, the pickup jumped the west curb and hit a “no parking” sign before coming to a stop north of Wagon Wheel’s rear parking lot entrance.

French fled the pickup, which belonged to Roger Peters of 229 N. Cedar St., and ran alongside Santa Fe St. toward the county transfer station.

He was captured just after he crossed the railroad tracks.

French was jailed on suspicion of fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer. As of press time, no bond had been set.