Google Street View car pursued in 100mph police chase before crashing in creek

A Google Street View car went on a 100mph police chase in Middletown, Indiana. The car was found unceremoniously crashed into a creek after its driver lost control.

Google Street View cars are a rare sight. When seen, people often wave for a chance to appear on the platform. To do this, Google sends cars out to local neighborhoods with 360-degree cameras on top of them in order to capture the locale. This makes each Google Street View car incredibly easy to spot.

That’s why in Middletown Indiana on July 31st at 5 PM, one police officer noticed something wrong. Officer Chief Landon J Dean found the vehicle to be going at speeds over 100mph on Route 36, near a local high school. The officer claims to have noticed that it was a Google Street View car by the camera sitting on top of it. He immediately began pursuit of the vehicle, according to a press release from Middletown Police Department.

The department claims that Officer Dean managed to catch up with the vehicle, as it whizzed by traffic and other vehicles, and refused to stop. The chase continued on for several miles, before slowing down for a red light, but running through it anyway, the release claims.

After this, the Google Street View car attempted to make a turn but did not notice that a bridge was not currently in service. There, the vehicle allegedly lost control, drove through a yard, and then crashed into a creek, where the vehicle then became stuck. Fire and EMS units also responded to the site of the crash.

Driver “scared to stop”

Following the crash into the creek, the driver was apprehended and went into custody. Named Coleman Furguson, the driver identified himself as a Google employee, and then that he was “scared to stop”, with no further comments released from the police department.

Ferguson was then escorted to a nearby hospital for medical clearance, and then held in jail for resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, which is a “Level 6 Felony”, according to the Middletown Police Department.

Ferguson is expected to be facing formal criminal charges to be filed by the Henry County Prosecutor’s office. Should Furguson be sentenced, he could be facing jail time anywhere from six months to up to two and a half years in prison.