AMHERST — A high-speed pursuit early Friday morning that began with police trying to pull over an erratic vehicle on South Pleasant Street ended with the offending vehicle crashing in South Hadley, and the driver being placed under arrest a short time later, police said.
At 1:50 a.m., officers attempted to pull over the 2006 GMC Sierra pickup truck after it failed to stop at a stop sign and then continued to travel south on Route 116, past East Hadley Road.
The pursuit was discontinued when speeds got up to 70 mph and the vehicle continued on West Street over The Notch, where Granby Police picked up the pursuit and the offending vehicle entered South Hadley. The vehicle eventually went off the road near the intersection with Woodbridge Street in the vicinity of The Orchards golf course.
After the driver and sole occupant fled from the vehicle on foot, he was located a short time later by the tracking of an Amherst K-9 unit, and was taken into custody.
Ras Fire, 38, of Worcester, was arrested on charges of reckless operation of a motor vehicle, receiving a stolen vehicle and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, two counts of failure to stop for police, as well as on two warrants, police said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
