An early morning car chase landed a driver into some chilly water early Thanksgiving morning in Stanfield.
It all began around 1 a.m. when officer Cody Marcum of the Stanfield Police Department tried to stop a vehicle for an improper lane change and noticed the license plate didn’t match the vehicle.
The driver sped up and tried to escape from the officer. According to the Stanfield Police Department, the driver lost control around a corner and slid the car toward a ditch before regaining control, going through a stop sign, nearly crashing into a residential yard. He continued down the road before losing control again on a corner, going through a fence, before going down an embankment and into a ditch filled water. Not about to give up at this point, the driver fled on foot and hid in some bushes where the police found him a short time later.
When asked why he ran, the driver said he was trying to make it home for Thanksgiving, according to the police.
The incident, from the time the officer tried to stop the car, lasted only one minute before the driver crashed near Edwards Road and Ash Road.
The driver was arrested and identified as 40-year-old Daryl Scott Fredrickson of Umatilla. Fredrickson, who has been arrested over 45 times, was lodged at the Umatilla County Jail after being treated for minor injuries at the Good Shepherd Medical Center. His charges include attempting to elude the police in a vehicle and on foot, reckless driving, second-degree criminal mischief, interfering with a police officer, and a warrant for probation violation.
The Stanfield Police Department was assisted at the scene by the Oregon State Police and the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office.
