High-speed chase ends when suspect runs out of gas
Published 10:26 am Monday, January 28, 2013
A high-speed chase ended Friday night in Austin when the suspect ran out of gas.
Police arrested Duangchang Keobounh-mee, 31, of Sacramento, Calif., after a long chase that began in Austin.
The Steele County Sheriff’s office issued a be-on-the-lookout report about a stolen car with North Dakota plates. An Austin Police officer spotted the vehicle and called for backup shortly after 9 p.m. However, when officers initiated the traffic stop at Fourth Street and 13th Avenue SE, Keobounhmee wouldn’t get out of his vehicle. According to the police report, he fled with the car. Keobounhmee reportedly went south on 180th Street, turned onto County Road 4 and went into Freeborn County before turning around in a yard and heading back toward Austin. At one point, Keobounhmee reached 120 mph, the report adds.
In all, six Austin police officers and three Mower County Sheriff’s deputies assisted in the chase. Keoubounhmee allegedly avoided stop sticks that were set up in Austin but eventually ran out of gas at Fourth Avenue and 13th Street NW. He refused to get out of the vehicle, so officers forced him from it and had to shock him with a Taser to put handcuffs on him.
Keobounhmee may be charged with felonies for stealing the vehicle and for fleeing peace officers in a vehicle, along with a gross misdemeanors obstructing the legal process charge and reckless driving.
Keobounhmee is already charged in Mower County with driving a stolen vehicle, when he previously ran out of gas north of Austin and a nearby property owner notified authorities.