Chase suspect sentenced for another crime

Published 4:46 pm Saturday, February 9, 2013

The suspect in a late January high-speed chase was sentenced in another vehicle crime Thursday in Mower County Court.

Duangchan Keobounhmee, 31, reportedly from Sacramento, Calif., was convicted of felony vehicle theft and sentenced 30 days in jail, five years’ supervised probation and 40 hours of community service.

In that case, Keoubounhmee stole a Rochester man’s truck on Dec. 2 and drove toward Austin but ran out of gas outside of town. A nearby business owner reported Keobounhmee to police, who later arrested him.

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An Austin Police Officer spotted Keobounhmee driving a reported stolen vehicle and called for backup. However, when officers initiated the traffic stop in Austin, Keobounhmee wouldn’t get out of his vehicle. Keobounhmee reportedly went south on 180th Street at 75 mph, turned onto County Road 4 and went into Freeborn County at 100 mph before turning around and heading back toward Austin.

In all, six Austin police officers and three Mower County Sheriff’s deputies assisted in the chase.

According to the court complaint, an officer put a spike strip near the county line, which Keobounhmee hit with his driver’s side tires. Keoubounhmee continued at 55 mph, the complaint adds, avoided another set of spike strips and eventually stopped 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. At the jail, he refused to give his name.