Teen faces handful of charges, $50,000 bond after Saturday night chase and crash

He survived a rollover crash in a pickup truck Saturday after a high-speed police chase. Now Dustin T. Farris faces five criminal charges, including two felonies. He is 17.

Farris, of Essex, Mo., is in the Cape Girardeau County jail after a wild Saturday night chase that at times reached 105 mph, according to a probable-cause statement filed by a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer.

Farris is accused of stealing a Ford pickup truck owned by Perry Mitch Parris.

In the probable-cause statement, Cpl. M.D. Lynch wrote that just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday, he spotted Farris traveling eastbound in a white pickup truck on Route K near Notre Dame Regional High School. Lynch wrote that the white pickup was moving at nearly 70 mph and at times crossing the center line, so he turned around and followed the pickup, using his lights and siren to get the driver's attention.

"The actions of the vehicle appeared to be the actions of a driver with severe impairment," Lynch wrote.

The statement went on to describe Farris's vehicle as nicking a car at Siemers Drive before taking the entrance ramp to southbound Interstate 55, where his speed exceeded 100 mph. As the pickup truck left the freeway on the exit ramp for Highway 74, it became airborne before landing and rolling several times, Lynch wrote.

Lynch described calling for an ambulance as he left his patrol car to see what happened to Farris.

Police would later collect what the statement said was "two pieces of tin foil, one with burnt residue, consistent with the use of illegal narcotics," found "wrapped up in a ticket from the Jackson Police Department issued to Farris for stealing."

Lynch wrote that he later learned that the pickup truck had been stolen and that he spent several hours trying to make Farris understand his rights. After Farris was released from Saint Francis Medical Center, he was arrested. The warrant accuses him of tampering related to the theft of Parris's truck, resisting a lawful stop, driving while intoxicated, possession of drug paraphernalia and speeding.

Cape Girardeau County Associate Circuit Court Judge Peter Statler set Farris' bond at $50,000.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646