A police pursuit originating in Ouachita Parish was stopped in Ruston Wednesday after Lincoln Parish deputies deployed spike strips to disable a fleeing stolen vehicle.
The Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Department was notified of a stolen vehicle being pursued from the West Monroe area on Interstate 20. Deputy J. Marshall was waiting at the 91 mile marker when he observed a vehicle traveling westbound at a high rate of speed. Marshall pursued the vehicle with lights and siren, but it continued to flee at speeds reaching 120 miles per hour.
Deputies positioned at the 85 mile marker in Ruston deployed spike strips to stop the vehicle. Once the vehicle was disabled, the driver fled into the median on foot where he was apprehended.
The driver possessed no identification and refused to provide any information on his identity. At the Lincoln Parish Detention Center, an Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) check revealed the man was Michael Anthony Turkin, 36, of Algonac, Michigan.
Some time after Turkin was placed in a cell, Detention Center personnel noticed the surveillance camera in the cell had been obscured with tissue paper. Turkin was directed to remove the paper and refused. He also refused to take a position so deputies could enter the cell to remove the paper. Pepper spray was deployed so that deputies could enter the cell.
Turkin was booked for illegal possession of a stolen vehicle, resisting an officer by flight, resisting an officer by false information, and tampering with surveillance equipment. He is also being held for the West Monroe Police Department for aggravated flight from an officer.
Bail had not been set as of Thursday afternoon.
