Local man arrested after car chase

A high-speed car chase Thursday morning resulted in the arrest of Bloomington resident Marshall Bailey, 23, on charges of resisting law enforcement while fleeing in a vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and operating while intoxicated, according to IU Police Department reports. \nThe chase began around 4 a.m. and officially ended around 6 a.m. after an hour-long search for Bailey in a wooded area following the pursuit, said IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger. The chase began at East 10th Street and ended in the 900 block of South Jordan Avenue when Bailey crashed his blue Audi into a cement post, wooden fence and a tree. He then left his car and hid in a wooded area by covering himself with leaves.\nThe pursuit reached speeds of more than 80 miles per hour on Jordan Avenue, and although his car was totaled, Bailey was not injured in the crash, according to IUPD reports. He refused a sobriety test and was taken to Monroe County Jail after his arrest. \nThe pursuit started when IUPD Officers David Winburn and Dan Keeler attempted to pull Bailey over after their radar indicated his Audi was traveling at 52 mph while traveling east on 10th Street, where the posted speed limit is 30 mph. The officers attempted to pull him over on East 10th, but instead of pulling over, he sped up. \n"We paced him at a safe distance," Winburn said. "We didn't want to get too close to his tail. I can't give an exact speed since we weren't right on his tail, but I know he exceeded 80 miles per hour. I would estimate he was traveling between 80 and 90 miles an hour."\nAlthough he blew through two traffic lights, there was no danger to the public because of the lack of cars on the road at that time, Winburn said.\nThe brief pursuit ended when Bailey crashed his Audi, which occurred after Winburn and Keeler lost sight of the car, so there were no eyewitnesses to the crash. \n"If you're traveling down South Jordan, and you get to Maxwell, the road ramps up slightly," Keeler said. "We found skid marks and oil drips on the road in that area. We think he probably bottomed out because of how fast he was going and then lost control of his car."\nMinger added that the scene of the accident looked bad, and Bailey was lucky he escaped injury. \n"The fence was splintered into pieces -- it was completely destroyed," Minger said. "He's lucky he didn't get impaled by the fence: Part of (the fence) came right through his front windshield."\nBailey then fled the scene, ran into a nearby wooded area and hid among the trees and leaves for around an hour before IUPD officers discovered him, Minger said. After an hour-long search, officers found him lying in the bushes near the wreck. An ambulance arrived at the scene, but Bailey had no visible injuries and refused any medical attention.\nHe also refused to take sobriety or chemical tests following his arrest. He was, however, charged with operating while intoxicated based on observations officers made at the scene.\n"Officers observed that he smelled strongly of alcoholic beverages and had poor dexterity," Minger said.\nBailey also told officers that he had been at a bar earlier in the night, according to IUPD reports.\n"There is some irony in cases like this," Minger said. "Lately there has been a lot of criticism about programs like Operation Pull Over, our efforts to catch impaired drivers. This is an example of the problem that we are trying to keep off the streets." \nBailey still was being held at Monroe County Jail at press time, a Monroe County Jail spokesman said. \n-- Contact staff writer Mike Wilson at mhwilson@indiana.edu.