Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Sandy man north of Waldport on Saturday after he led police on a 50-mile chase down U.S. Highway 101 with speeds reaching 110 miles per hour.
Lincoln City police initially reported a van driving recklessly through an active construction zone on Highway 101 just north of its intersection with Oregon Highway 18. Reports said the van nearly hit workers and ran over traffic cones.
At about 8:37 a.m., a sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle entering Newport city limits at a high rate of speed and traveling in the oncoming lane, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Saturday evening. Deputies were unsuccessful in getting the driver to stop.
Deputies and Newport and Oregon State Police officers pursued the van south through Newport and Seal Rock, reaching speeds between 90 and 110 mph.
The driver turned off Highway 101 near Northwest Fox Creek north of Waldport and continued to attempt to elude police until arriving at a home, where he fled on foot and was quickly apprehended, the sheriff’s office said. Lincoln City police confirmed it was the same vehicle which endangered highway workers.
Deputies arrested Jonathan Grimm, 55, of Sandy on charges of reckless driving, reckless endangering, reckless endangerment of highway workers, and attempting to elude and took him to the Lincoln County jail.
Court records show Grimm has at least six speeding violations, citations or arrests dating to 1997.
