A Nathrop man was arrested early Friday morning after leading sheriff’s deputies on a high speed vehicular pursuit, wrecking his pickup truck, and fleeing on foot.  The incident began shortly before 3am when Deputy Logan Tidwell, patrolling in his SUV on US 24 near Johnson Village, was forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision as an oncoming pickup truck swerved into his lane.  Deputy Tidwell turned around to follow the vehicle, activating his emergency lights as the pickup truck turned north onto US 24 toward Buena Vista.  The pickup truck stopped a mile south of Buena Vista, but as Deputy Tidwell approached the driver’s side on foot, the vehicle sped off toward town.

A pursuit ensued, with the deputy and a sheriff’s sergeant following the pickup truck.  Speeds reached approximately 95mph as the pursued truck swerved often into the oncoming traffic lanes.  Fortunately, no other cars were present at that hour.  The truck sped through Buena Vista, swerved into a dirt parking lot in the 700 block of US 24 North, fishtailed, sideswiped a building, and struck several trees head-on with a force sufficient to cause the rear of the vehicle to bounce upward.  The driver fled from the truck on foot with deputies in pursuit.  A perimeter was established, but the driver eluded capture until he was spotted on a side street about 45 minutes later by a Buena Vista police sergeant and taken into custody.  The man had only minor injuries from the crash.

The driver was identified as Justin Harrison Determan, 26, who lists an address of 17280 CR 291 in Nathrop.  He was charged with speeding, driving under the influence, driving while license revoked, felony eluding, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, false reporting, violation of terms of protection order, and habitual traffic offender.  He was jailed and held on bond of $25,000.   His truck was impounded.