Driver Tasered After 101 mph Car Chase, Police Say

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://o4.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/PATCH/resize/273x203/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/patch/b92b8d321b5836eb335c3a67c8f7782c" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Police say they had to taser a Bushkill Towship man who passed them a 101 mph in a wild car chase. He may have been high on bath salts.</span><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sirens, tire spikes and a crashed car apparently weren't enough to stop an <a href="http://www.easton.patch.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Easton </a>man accused of leading state police on a chase through Bushkill Township.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Instead, it took a taser to bring down Mark Nichols, who was allegedly on bath salts when he passed them doing 101 mph Wednesday night.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A police affadavit gives the following account:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">State troopers from the Belfast barracks saw Nichols, 29, of 46 N. Sixth St., speeding south on Route 33 in Bushkill Township around 8:30 p.m.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The troopers flashed their lights and sounded their siren to get Nichols to stop, but he kept driving, getting off the highway and making his way to Route 512.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At one point, police put down tire spikes in the road to stop Nichols. The spikes chewed through three of his tires, but he kept going.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police say Nichols lost control of his car, crashing into the deck at a home on Redstone Drive.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nichols got out of the car and began to run, and police took him down with a Taser, the affadavit says.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police found a bag containing a substance that turned out to be methamphetamine near the scene of the crash, and said Nichols also smelled of marijuana.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Investigators eventually determined Nichols had been high on bath salts at the time of the case. He was charged with fleeing/eluding police, criminal mischief, multiple counts of driving while under the influence and numerous traffic violations.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.714em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nichols was arraigned before on-duty <a href="http://easton.patch.com/listings/district-judge-richard-yetter-8536b4f0" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">District Judge Richard Yetter</a>, and sent to <a href="http://easton.patch.com/listings/northampton-county-department-of-corrections" style="border: 0px; color: #0044aa; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Northampton County Prison</a> in lieu of $65,000 bail.</div></div>

Chase Driver Tasered After 101 mph Car Chase, Police Say

Police say they had to taser a Bushkill Towship man who passed them a 101 mph in a wild car chase. He may have been high on bath salts.Sirens, tire spikes and a crashed car apparently weren't enough to stop an Easton man accused of leading state poli…

Read more »