A wild high-speed chase in the Inland Empire that started with a failed Taser attempt and ended in a dramatic patrol car crash was caught on video released this week.
The March 26 pursuit started in Temecula after passing drivers reported a shirtless man with a pickax digging a hole in the grassy center median of Interstate 15, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, which obtained the dash-cam video through a public records request.
Callers also reported seeing the man riding a skateboard on a concrete diver and on the top of his parked red Honda Civic, the news outlet reported.
California Highway Patrol officers said the driver, 24-year-old Thomas Robert Landry, appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
The video (embedded below) shows a failed attempt to Taser the San Diego man, who then drives off into morning traffic with the hood of his car open.
The driver led CHP on a high-speed chase to Wildomar, where officers rammed the back of the vehicle, sending it into a tail spin. It landed backwards on a sidewalk in what appeared to be a residential area.
Landry pleaded guilty in August to evading and obstructing an officer, the Press-Enterprise reported. He was sentenced to three years’ probation, time served and ordered to enroll in a mental health treatment program.
