MORGANTOWN — West Virginia State Police charged a Parkersburg man with leading them on a car chase around the Morgantown area.
Daniel W. Mackey, 36, is charged with fleeing from an officer with reckless indifference.
According to a criminal complaint, the chase started at JCPenney at the Morgantown Mall. Officers with the Westover Police Department pursued the 1994 Dodge Dakota, with a license plate that did not match the truck, through Westover and into Morgantown. The vehicle turned onto Green Bag Road and into the Giant Eagle parking lot before getting back on Green Bag, heading toward Sabraton.
At that point, Sgt. M.J. Wilson, of the West Virginia State Police, joined the chase. He saw the Dakota cross the center line several times, almost hitting multiple vehicles, Wilson wrote in the criminal complaint.
After the Dakota entered Sabraton, Westover police stopped the chase because of a high level of traffic, the complaint states. Wilson continued to follow from a distance and watched it get on Interstate 68 Eastbound.
Wilson activated the lights and siren on his cruiser and the Dakota continued to flee at about 76 mph in the left lane, the complaint said. About a half mile before Exit 7, it crossed the median and started driving east in the westbound lane.
Wilson wrote he stopped the chase “due to the high risk the driver was placing on the public.” He watched as the vehicle went up the on ramp of I-68 West, almost striking 8-10 vehicles head on.
911 received multiple calls about the Dakota driving recklessly on Mileground Road, and Wilson patrolled the area. He stopped at the intersection of Willey Street and Hampton to talk with a Morgantown police officer and while talking, the Dakota got stuck in traffic behind Wilson.
The MPD officer pulled in behind the Dakota, and a man wearing a light-colored shirt got out of it and ran away, the complaint states. Wilson found the suspect, who identified himself as Mackey, on Chalfant Lane.
Mackey is being held in North Central Regional Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.
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