A Missouri police chase turned into a scene out of an action movie when a fleeing driver ditched his car on a bridge, jumped into the water below and left deputies dealing with a vehicle that was still rolling away.
By the time the chase reached the Kimberling City Bridge last Saturday, Gavin Thor Lundgren allegedly chose the lake over the road.
KYTV-TV reported that he got out of the car, went over the bridge’s east side and dropped into Rock Lake.
Dashcam audio caught one deputy’s stunned reaction.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader told KYTV the bridge jump was about a 40-foot drop.
“This was definitely a first, and luckily he survived the fall,” Rader said.
The pursuit had started near the north end of Kimberling City, where Stone County deputies were trying to pull over a vehicle at about 1:50 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
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The car headed south instead, and deputies said it reached 75 miles per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone.
The road chase then became a water search. After Lundgren allegedly disappeared over the side, deputies still had to secure the car he left behind.
KYTV reported that the vehicle remained in drive and kept moving until deputies stopped it.
With units holding positions on shore, Southern Stone County firefighters joined the search from a boat. A deputy later found Lundgren at the scene.
The bridge stunt did not end the confrontation. Three deputies were allegedly injured during the arrest, and KYTV reported that two of them were head-butted.
The probable cause statement cited by KYTV placed Lundgren at the Stone County Jail after the arrest.
By Friday, jail records still showed the 26-year-old behind bars on resisting arrest by fleeing, careless driving, three counts of third-degree assault and resisting or interfering with arrest for a felony.
Other recent chases ended with vehicles in equally ridiculous places.
In Georgia, an attempted arrest left a suspect’s vehicle perched on a Sandy Springs police cruiser’s windshield area after it struck a concrete barrier, police video showed.
The suspect was Jorge Luis Delgado-Bermudez, who police said was wanted in Fulton County on drug charges involving methamphetamine and cocaine offenses.
Friday’s arrest effort brought in the Sandy Springs Police Department Street Crimes Unit and the Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Field Office, according to police.
Authorities also said Delgado-Bermudez had federal charges and ties to a larger criminal organization.
Near the 8100 block of Colquitt Road, officers tried to trap his vehicle in place.
The vehicle hit a concrete barrier instead, and the impact lifted the rear end onto a Sandy Springs police vehicle, police said.
Delgado-Bermudez allegedly got out and tried to flee on foot, but officers took him into custody quickly.
Police reported no injuries to officers or the public. WAGA-TV reported that the larger criminal organization allegedly tied to Delgado-Bermudez had not been named by officials.
The station also reported that authorities had not disclosed where he was being held or the time of the collision.
Wisconsin had its own “Dukes of Hazzard” moment in May, when a fleeing car cleared another vehicle and landed in a field.
FOX 6 reported that the Wisconsin State Patrol had pulled over a car before backup was requested over an active felony warrant.
Footage of the Saturday morning, May 9 arrest was later released by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver allegedly fled as additional law enforcement arrived, including a Fond du Lac County sheriff’s deputy and another trooper.
The chase saved its wildest moment for the end. The car left the road, hit a ditch, went up an embankment, cleared another vehicle, crossed the roadway in the air and landed in a field.
Police later identified the driver as 44-year-old Dewayne Stokes.
Stokes allegedly climbed out after the crash landing and still had to be Tased before officers took him into custody. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Court documents listed seven counts against Stokes, including two counts of eluding an officer and first-degree reckless endangering safety.
His cash bond was set at $25,000, and June 24 was listed as his next court date.
FOX 6 reported that Stokes was already out on bond in a case involving operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. A failure to appear in court had also led to a warrant.
California drivers faced the opposite problem. On Presidents’ Day, a vehicle fell from an Interstate 5 overpass onto a busy Sacramento freeway as tree debris dropped with it, all captured by a dash camera from traffic below.
Sacramento police responded shortly before 1 p.m. and found the driver hurt. Police said he was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition and was the only person hospitalized.
Kyman Jeung, whose dash camera captured the fall, told KCRA-TV he was still “on edge” hours later.
“It all just happened in slow motion,” Jeung said. “I saw a car falling, and tree parts falling.”
Jeung said he had to find the “least painful way” through the falling debris because there was no way around it.
