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A Delaware man escaped a police chase Tuesday evening after crashing his car in a Buffalo County cornfield, only to be nabbed the following morning while trying to hitch a ride at the Interstate 80 interchange at Minden.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, this is how it all happened:
Shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, a state trooper stopped a westbound 2000 Cadillac just east of the Shelton, Neb., exit on I-80. The car matched the description of a vehicle believed to be involved in the theft of $44 worth of gasoline from a station in Waco, Neb.
As the trooper approached the vehicle, the car sped off. The trooper chased the Cadillac west into Buffalo County. The Caddy turned off the freeway at the Minden interchange east of Kearney and headed north on Nebraska 10, then east on a gravel road. The car drove for roughly three miles before turning into the driveway of a Buffalo County farmhouse.
The Cadillac roared through the property and entered a cornfield on the west side of the home. His pursuers found the car abandoned in the field, but the driver was gone.
Troopers surrounded the field and called in a helicopter, a police dog and local police, but no luck. After several hours, the search was called off, resuming at daybreak Wednesday.
When authorities received reports of a disheveled man asking for a ride near the Minden interchange, they found a 36-year-old Harrington, Del., man who matched the description of the missing driver, questioned him and arrested him on suspicion of flight to avoid arrest, theft of services and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
They jailed him in Kearney.
Contact the writer:
444-3106, andrew.nelson@owh.com
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