Prineville fugitive runs, captured after high-speed chase

An attempt to pull over a 23-year-old fugitive in Prineville Saturday night led to a high-speed police pursuit, crash and manhunt that ended in the driver’s arrest, officers said Monday.

A Prineville officer tried to conduct a traffic stop of a 1995 Ford Probe driven by Jeremy Steele shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday in the area of Northwest Fourth Street, said police Sergeant Jimmy O’Daniel.

The driver, later identified as Steele, fled police and continued to elude pursuing officers and Crook County sheriff’s deputies, O’Daniel said.

Eventually, Steele crashed the car in the area of Northwest Ryegrass Road in Crook County, got out and ran, until he was apprehended by officers, the sergeant said.

Steele was taken first to St. Charles Prineville, then to county jail, where he remained held Monday without bail on two confirmed felony warrants, one out of Crook County and another out of Deschutes County for parole violation on the original charge of burglary.

O’Daniel said he also is accused of failure to appear in court on original charges of eluding police, reckless driving and reckless endangering.

New charges pending after the weekend pursuit include felony and misdemeanor attempt to elude police (by vehicle and on foot), reckless driving, misdemeanor driving with a revoked license and third-degree escape.

O’Daniel said Steele also is charged with second- and third-degree theft, clearing other existing Prineville police cases.