(Fremont County, WY) – Around 5:30 PM on Tuesday evening, County 10 began receiving reports of a one vehicle pursuit passing through the streets of Lander involving multiple law agencies.
County 10 reached out to Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) Lieutenant Travis Hauser, who stated that the pursuit began as a traffic complaint when a vehicle was reported to be throwing trash at other vehicles and driving erratically.
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) officers were the first to make contact with the vehicle (which had two passengers in addition to the driver), but after making the traffic stop they took off when the officers approached.
Lt. Hauser then stated that WHP took over the pursuit in the North Fork Road area, where at one point the vehicle was forced to make a u-turn on a dead-end road, resulting in a minor collision with one of the patrol vehicles.
The driver then made their way to Highway 287 and into Lander.
LPD Public Information Officer Duane Kaiser was able to confirm with County 10 that “BIA pursued the vehicle into Lander From N 2nd St around the Northside of town to N 8th St. From there N 8th St. to East on Main to McDonalds and out of town,” eventually heading toward Hudson on Highway 789.
Lt. Hauser also confirmed that the pursuit never reached high speeds, and that the driver was able to avoid multiple spike strip deployments as well as one “Tactical Vehicle Intervention (TVI)” maneuver, by either swerving off the road or toward trooper vehicles.
The pursuit ultimately concluded in the Lyons Valley Road area outside of Lander after a successful TVI maneuver.
The identity of the driver was not made available, but Lt. Hauser did comment that there was “suspected drug use.”
In addition to BIA, LPD, and WHP, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) assisted as well.
County 10 will provide further details when they are made available.