I.F. man totals parked car after high speed chase in stolen vehicle - East Idaho News
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I.F. man totals parked car after high speed chase in stolen vehicle

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IDAHO FALLS — After a loud boom, an Idaho Falls resident found his parked car had been totaled.

Around 9 p.m. Wednesday, Luke Morrison was sitting in his apartment on 14th Street when a man driving a stolen vehicle slammed into his car and the driver took off on foot.

“So, I’m like, ‘Oh, I guess I better go check to make sure it’s not mine,'” Morrison said. “I stepped around a corner and there’s flashing lights straight out the door and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding?’ Of course it was my car.”

Authorities had received a report of a stolen vehicle a short time earlier and a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy spotted the vehicle in the area of Boulevard and 17th Street, according to a Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office news release.

As the deputy followed the vehicle he saw it pull to the side of the road and stop. At that time the deputy pulled in behind and attempted to make contact with the suspect driver, who then sped away, the sheriff’s office said.

The suspect turned on to Calkins Drive and ultimately collided with parked cars at the intersection of Calkins and 14th Street.

He got out of the stolen vehicle and ran away. He was apprehended a short distance away by an Idaho Falls Police officer who had to use his Tazer to subdue him. The suspect, 27-year-old Samuel E. Martin of Idaho Falls, was then placed in custody.

After being cleared by medical personnel at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, Martin was booked into the Bonneville County Jail for misdemeanor eluding and obstructing an officer, and felony grand theft, according to the release.

“It’s totaled,” Morrison said of his car. “My front axle is broken. It’s slashed up where he hit (the car) in the front. Where it broke my axle, it popped my wheel sideways on my passenger front wheel.”

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