CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man pleaded guilty during sentencing court in Clearfield County Tuesday to leading police on a chase in January.
Christian Scott Graham, 19, was sentenced to one to three years in state prison for fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, recklessly endangering another person and possession of drug paraphernalia by Judge Fredric J. Ammerman.
The charges stem from an incident on Jan. 28 in Bradford Township.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, a trooper was following a black coupe that had a registration listed as a “dead tag.”
The trooper kept following the vehicle on Pinetop Road where the driver, later identified as Graham, was going 60-miles-per-hour in a 40-miles-per-hour zone.
Because it was not a safe location for a traffic stop, the trooper waited until the vehicle reached the intersection with Main Street to activate his emergency lights.
Graham accelerated in an attempt to flee as he traveled into the other lane of travel and sped by a stop sign.
During the pursuit, the vehicle left its lane multiple times, failed to stop at posted signs and did not use its turn signal.
While fleeing on state Route 879, the vehicle slid through the intersection with the Old Erie Pike, and almost struck a guiderail.
The trooper and a second officer left their vehicles to try to take Graham into custody.
Instead, Graham backed his vehicle into one of the police cars and sped away on Old Erie Pike and then to the Clearfield-Glen Richey Highway.
Near Lawrence Park Village, a Clearfield Borough officer used a spike strip to try to stop the vehicle.
Graham evaded the strip and entered the southbound lane of SR 153 before getting on to the SR 879 ramp where he turned east on the bypass.
The several police cars now following Graham tried to box the vehicle in, but it made an abrupt move to the left where it made contact with one of the vehicles.
On Airport Road, Graham lost control of his vehicle and struck an embankment. The vehicle spun 360 degrees and then continued west of SR 879.
While he approached another right-hand turn, the trooper used a maneuver in an attempt to end the chase.
Graham lost control of his vehicle and it spun 180 degrees. He attempted to continue fleeing, but a trooper was able to take him into custody.
