Car chase starts in West Valley, ends in violent crash in Tempe
A police chase that crisscrossed Phoenix-area freeways ended in a violent, head-on crash that sent one person to a hospital Wednesday morning in Tempe.
Troopers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety took 31-year-old Mitchell Timothy Taebel into custody following the crash on Rural Road just south of Apache Boulevard near the Arizona State University Tempe campus, said DPS Trooper Kameron Lee.
Aerial footage showed Taebel sitting on the ground with his hands restrained behind him after the crash, which shut down Rural Road near Apache Boulevard Wednesday afternoon.
The driver of the other vehicle, a black SUV, was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Lee said the 47-year-old woman, who was not identified, did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
From the West Valley to Tempe
The incident began in the far West Valley about 10 a.m., on State Route 85, when a DPS sergeant attempted to stop a red SUV, which Lee said was driven by Taebel, for a moving-traffic violation.
The driver failed to stop and kept heading north on SR 85 toward Interstate 10, Lee said.
DPS troopers attempted to disable the vehicle using stop sticks, but the vehicle veered around them and kept going, eventually reaching I-10 and heading east toward Phoenix, Lee said.
Once the vehicle reached 59th Avenue, trooper vehicles backed off and let a DPS helicopter take over tracking the car, which reached speeds of 60 to 65 mph, Lee said.
The vehicle made its way east to the Loop 202 connection, where it continued east and eventually exited at Scottsdale Road and headed south, Lee said, where the street becomes Rural Road and passes alongside ASU’s main campus.
As the SUV approached a light, two DPS vehicles tried to box in the vehicle to stop it, Lee said.
“The suspect veered to the right and rammed one of our patrol cars, and then continued southbound at a high rate of speed,” he said.
Near Apache Boulevard, the SUV sideswiped a white SUV and then crashed into a black SUV nearly head-on at Spence Avenue, about a block south of Apache, Lee said.
The red SUV continued south for a short distance and lost control before coming to a stop, where Taebel was taken into custody.
He was treated for minor injuries and was awaiting booking Wednesday, Lee said.
The driver of the white vehicle was not injured.
Lee said Taebel had a California driver’s license and a criminal history with felonies and misdemeanors in several other states, including New York and Florida.
However, Lee said DPS was not initially stopping him for any reason other than the traffic violation.
‘My gut just dropped’
Witnesses in the area said they heard what was going on.
“My gut just dropped when you see how dramatic that black SUV got hit and it’s like, oh geez, I hope whoever was in there is OK,” said Chris Monahan, who lives in a nearby dorm and went outside when he heard the commotion.
The suspect’s vehicle, also an SUV, flipped multiple times and came to rest in front of the lobby of the ASU building where Christina Arroyo works.
“A lot of us were just very curious and I think sometimes curiosity overtakes your need for safety,” she said. “And when it clicked to us that these are actual weapons and somebody might have a weapon or try to flee or get inside our building, that’s when we decided to follow instruction and get to our cubicles, stay away from the site where everything was going on.”
Kelly Bryant saw the driver being chased as she drove to her internship. “Fortunately, I wasn’t seriously involved and was heading the opposite direction towards Scottsdale. I did see at least 50 police cars, undercover and motorcycle cops following the driver at insane speeds.”
Rural Road was closed in both directions between Apache Boulevard and Spence Avenue.
Lee said the intersection was expected to be closed several hours for the investigation.