Dramatic dash cam video captures ISP pursuit, crash
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BOISE — Dashcam video just released by Idaho State Police shows the dramatic crash that ended a police pursuit last April.
It all began around 7 p.m. April 9 west of Chinden Boulevard and Veterans Memorial Parkway in Boise. A Boise police officer was trying to pull over 32-year-old Jose Manuel Sanchez when Sanchez stopped, turned his pickup truck around and drove straight for the officer.
Police say the officer tried to get back into his car but the truck hit the trooper’s door – slamming it closed and pinning his leg.
Investigators say other officers were notified, and a short time later Idaho State Police Trooper Kenny Walker spotted Sanchez on Interstate 84.
“As I approached the suspect’s vehicle, I noticed the vehicle (was) having difficulty maintaining its lane,” Walker wrote in a report following the incident. “I activated my siren and continued to pursue the vehicle, for approximately three miles, at speeds ranging from 100 to 109 miles per hour.”
Walker’s dash cam video was rolling as the truck veered across the interstate and into the median approaching westbound lanes of I-84.
“The vehicle eventually (re)entered the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 and rolled off the right shoulder,” Walker wrote. “As the vehicle rolled, the driver … was ejected, approximately 15 to 20 feet into the air, from the driver’s side window. I observed Sanchez land head first onto the ground.”
The dashcam video shows Sanchez stand up and attempt to run. Walker pulls his gun and tells Sanchez to stop, but the suspect keeps going.
“Sanchez ran across the grass median and into oncoming westbound traffic,” Walker wrote. “(He) veered back to the left and into the median, and it was at this time that I tackled Sanchez from behind.”
At this point, Jason P. Henley and Jose Medrano-Lopez, two motorists passing by, stopped to help Walker.
Idaho State Police say Medrano-Lopez and Henley held the suspect down, allowing Walker to put handcuffs on Sanchez and place him under arrest.
ISP honored Henley, who now lives in Ohio, with a certificate of appreciation and would like to honor Medrano-Lopez, but they haven’t been able to locate him.
Sanchez was convicted in December of battery on a law enforcement officer, drug possession and felony eluding. He is serving a 18-year prison sentence and will become eligible for parole in 2020.