DERBY — Police are looking for a 37-year-old Brownington man, who they say led them on a high-speed chase through Orleans County this morning, before getting away.
At 12:00 a.m. police say they were notified of suspicious activity involving a GMC pickup parked in the woods in Derby.
Before police arrived to investigate, the vehicle had left the area heading towards Charleston. Police located the vehicle pulled off the roadway on Rte 105 near Rte 5A.
The driver, who police say was identified as Matthew Prue, was contacted and multiple indicators of heroin possession were observed within the vehicle, as well as indicators of impairment.
When the trooper directed Prue to step out of the vehicle to investigate, he slammed the door and fled down Rte 5A at a high rate of speed.
He was pursued for approximately 20 minutes through Charleston, Brownington, Barton, and Westmore, on multiple roadways as well as through fields, with speeds at times exceeding 100 miles-per-hour.
Police say he was observed throwing hypodermic needles and other small objects and bags out of the window during the pursuit. At one point, police say he drove towards a trooper who was attempting to turn around in the roadway, almost ramming the vehicle.
The pursuit continued into Westmore, briefly leaving the roadway into a field.
Due to Prue’s increasingly erratic operation, police say they slowed down and pulled back. As troopers rounded a corner in the direction he had driven, they saw the truck crashed into a tree and left disabled in the roadway.
Prue was not found at the scene of the crash.
Troopers searched the area extensively, both on foot and with a K9 unit, and were unable to locate him.
At this time, police are still looking for him.
