Driver pleads not guilty to high-speed chase

Published 12:24 pm Friday, June 1, 2012

A Grand Meadow man pleaded not guilty to all charges that he allegedly led a deputy on a high-speed chase that ended when the officer hit his vehicle.

Josh Logan Mallory, 21, of Grand Meadow, pleaded not guilty Thursday to fleeing an officer in a vehicle, a felony; DWI and DWI combination of substances, both gross misdemeanors, misdemeanor open bottle and petty misdemeanor marijuana possession.

The deputy activated his lights when he saw Mallory going 25 in a 55 mph zone with no license plate light. Mallory allegedly accelerated, turned and went 80 mph down a gravel road and at one point spun out. The chase also resulted in the deputy going into a ditch, according to Sheriff Terese Amazi.

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Mallory parked and shut off his lights while deputy Ryan Norton was getting out of the ditch, Amazi added. Norton then ran into the back of Mallory’s car. Neither Norton or Mallory were injured; both cars sustained minor damage. Mallory, who allegedly had several open bottles of hard liquor in the car and about .5 grams of marijuana, admitted he was drunk and had smoked marijuana an hour before the chase, according to the court complaint.

Mallory’s pretrial is set for July 26.