The Richardson Highway northbound lanes were closed for about an hour and a half after a three mile car chase that ended in a vehicle coming to rest on its side and a short stand-off on Monday, troopers report.

At 8:38 am on Monday, troopers on patrol at mile 356 of the Richardson Highway attempted to stop a 1993 Ford Explorer for excessive speed, but the driver of the vehicle, later identified as 22-year-old Fairbanks resident, Jonathan A. Pitts, refused to yield, and instead sped away from the trooper in an attempt to elude him. 

Pitts took off down the Old Richardson Highway at a high rate of speed, with troopers in pursuit. The fleeing driver drove for 3 miles before getting back onto the Richardson Highway, near mile 353. Pitts traveled southbound on the highway in the northbound lane for a short distance, then drove into the ditch. While Pitts was stuck in the ditch. The trooper, from a safe distance, attempted to contact him and ordered him to surrender several times.

Pitts refused, then successfully freed his vehicle from the ditch, and continued traveling on the southbound shoulder of the northbound Richardson Highway. after a short distance, Pitts drove his vehicle up the highway’s embankment, then while attempting to make a sharp turn to turn around, he rolled his vehicle and it came to rest on the driver side.

Again, troopers ordered Pitts to “show his hands and surrender,” the trooper dispatch reports. Again, Pitts refused and informed the officer that he had knives in the vehicle. Additional troopers and the North Pole Police Department responded to the scene and set up a perimeter. Pitts continued to refuse to get out of the vehicle.

Because all of the windows and doors were closed, troopers say that an officer used a beanbag shot from a shotgun to take out the back window to better facilitate communication. Shortly after the window was taken out, Pitts climbed out of the vehicle and surrendered without incident.

All damage at the scene was limited to the Ford Explorer. No one was injured in the incident.

Pitts was transported to Fairbanks, where he was remanded to the Fairbanks Correctional Center, and charged with one count of Failure to Stop at the Direction of a Peace Officer I, and Reckless Driving.

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  accident, alabama, arrest, eluding, failure to stop, jonathan pitts, peace officer, richardson highway, rollover, speeding, standoff