Car chase leads to capture

A wanted felon who escaped prison after being arrested for bank robbery led the Bloomington Police Department on a chase Saturday evening, ending with a car crash and a foot pursuit. The felon and his companion were taken into custody near the intersection of Fess and Cottage Grove avenues.\nJames Pasek, 24, escaped jail in Bozeman, Mont., where he was awaiting trial for bank robbery. According to a BPD statement, Montana police allege after his escape, Pasek then robbed a bank in Spearfish, S.D., and proceeded to steal a red Chevy Envoy. With Pasek was a 16-year-old female runaway whose stepmother lives in Bloomington. \nThe stepmother informed BPD of the whereabouts of the two, as she was in contact with the runaway.\n"(The stepmother) was absolutely crucial. It's the only way we knew when they entered our area," BPD Sgt. Scott Oldham said.\nThrough the stepmother's information, it was learned that both the juvenile and Pasek had set up a meeting with the stepmother at Tomcat's Pawn Shop, 750 W. 17th St.\nOldham said when BPD learned of the meeting, they sent in unmarked squad cars to the area to setup surveillance and watch for Pasek. An unmarked car eventually spotted Pasek in the parking lot. When BPD began to block Pasek in the parking lot of the pawn shop, he escaped in the vehicle before he could be sealed in.\nAt 5:17 p.m. Pasek began to flee eastbound on 17th Street and led BPD in a nine-minute pursuit around Bloomington and through campus.\nOldham said nine BPD officers were involved in the pursuit, along with eight cars both marked and unmarked. \nWhile the investigative leg-work and the pursuit was run by the BPD, other local police agencies, including the IUPD, took part in the pursuit as well.\n"IUPD, as always, was there to provide additional manpower to us when we needed it," Oldham said.\nIUPD Officer Randall Frye took part in the pursuit by driving parallel to Pasek hoping to get ahead of him and cut him off. Frye eventually joined the pursuit at the intersection of 10th and Dunn streets. \n"My concern was just getting it stopped and making sure no innocent bystanders got hurt," Frye said. "And that's all you think about. You're just keeping your mind on the task at hand."\nPasek lost control of his car near the intersection of Woodlawn Avenue and 12th Street, striking a chain link fence and bending backward a 30 mph speed limit sign. Pasek and the runaway then abandoned the stolen car and led police on a foot chase until he and the teenager finally were apprehended at Fess and Cottage Grove avenues.\nBPD Officer Amy Romosser gave chase to Pasek and tackled him while Oldham apprehended the runaway from Gillette, Wyo.\nThe pursuit went through city streets, backyards and railroad beds in a testament to Pasek's desperation to escape.\n"If he would have known anything about Bloomington, we'd still be out there chasing him," IUPD Lt. George Robinson said.\nOldham said BPD preliminarily charged Pasek with resisting law enforcement in a vehicle and criminal mischief -- both class D felonies. Currently Pasek is being held at the Monroe County Jail under charges from various states and jurisdictions. \nOldham said Pasek was enough of a threat that he would have been extradited from anywhere in the world should he have been apprehended.\n"I'm wonderfully happy he's in jail," Oldham said.