An Odessa man was taken to jail early Friday morning after a police chase that began when a police officer saw him speeding and blowing through a red light. In the end, police said he ran a total of three red lights.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, an officer saw a 2008 Nissan Altima traveling east on West University Boulevard speed up and drive through the red light at Golder Avenue around 2:50 a.m. When the officer activated his lights and siren, the driver of the car accelerated to “speeds that were unsafe.”
The officer saw the Altima speed through the red light at Andrews Highway, going so fast the car lifted off the ground and caused sparks to fly when he landed, the report stated. The officer lost sight of the car near University and Dixie Boulevard, “due to the very high rate of speed.”
Because the officer first saw the vehicle in the 1800 block of West University, he headed back that way in case the driver returned. According to the report, another officer spotted a Nissan Altima speeding north on Golder Avenue a short time later and blowing the red light at Golder and West 23rd Street.
The original officer spotted the car turning west onto West University from Golder and then switching back and forth from the outside lane to the inside lane, still at a high rate of speed, the report stated. The officer followed the car into a residential neighborhood where the driver turned off all of its lights.
The driver of the car parked at West 26th Street and Whitaker Avenue and when the officer got behind it and activated his lights and siren, the driver of the car jumped out and ran away, the report stated. The officer caught up with him two blocks away on Harris Street and arrested him.
Miguel Angel Guzman, 26, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, evading arrest and evading arrest or detention.
Guzman remained in the Ector County jail Tuesday on surety bonds totaling $13,000.
