MARSHALLTOWN, IA — A Marshalltown man is in custody after police say he led officers on a fast-moving chase that reached speeds above 100 mph and cut through Riverside Cemetery before ending in an arrest.
Authorities say the pursuit started with a traffic stop Tuesday morning and moved across town, through cemetery grounds and back into Marshalltown before officers caught up with the driver. Police identified the man as 20-year-old Alexis Garcia Vazquez.
He faces three counts of eluding, second-degree criminal mischief and interference with official acts, along with multiple simple misdemeanor traffic offenses. Police said he was booked into the Marshall County Jail on a $25,967.40 bond.
Traffic stop on South Second Street turned into a chase
According to the Marshalltown Police Department, an officer tried to stop a black vehicle around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of South Second Street for an equipment violation. Police said the driver took off at a high rate of speed.
The officer briefly lost sight of the vehicle and ended the first attempt to stop it. About five minutes later, officers learned the vehicle had crashed through a fence at Riverside Cemetery from North Center Street and was driving through the grounds.
Police said the pursuit then continued inside the cemetery. Officers surrounded the area, but the vehicle broke through another fence at North Third Avenue and fled north out of town.
Cemetery crew secured the gates as the vehicle moved through the grounds
Riverside Cemetery said its grounds crew secured the gates, which kept the driver from leaving through the normal exits. That forced the chase to continue within the cemetery until the vehicle found another way out.
Police said the vehicle escaped through a different fence and accelerated away from Marshalltown at more than 100 mph. The cemetery later said no headstones, monuments or gravesites were damaged.
The cemetery’s staff made temporary repairs to the fence, and permanent work is expected later. The cemetery remains open to visitors.
Deputies spotted the vehicle again near Albion
Marshall County deputies later saw the vehicle near Albion, and the pursuit turned back toward Marshalltown. Once the vehicle re-entered town, officers deployed tire-deflation devices in an effort to stop it.
Police said the driver ran over the devices, struck the rear of another vehicle and continued a short distance before getting out and running. Officers arrested Garcia Vazquez a short distance away.
The police release did not say whether anyone in the other vehicle was injured. Authorities did say the vehicle that was hit was damaged during the chase.
Business owner’s cameras caught the car speeding by
Jason Wegner, owner of Larry’s Towing, Tire & Lock on North Third Avenue, said cameras at his business recorded the vehicle speeding past around 9:30 a.m. He compared the sound to NASCAR cars flying past the grandstands.
Wegner said police later contacted his business to help someone whose vehicle had been struck during the pursuit. He also said the discovery that the car had been on cemetery grounds was upsetting because family members are buried at Riverside Cemetery.
Wegner said he worried that graves belonging to his mother and grandfather might have been damaged and went to check for himself. Cemetery officials said the gravesites were unharmed.
Charges remain as police continue the investigation
Garcia Vazquez now faces multiple charges tied to the chase, including the three eluding counts and the criminal mischief and interference allegations. He was held in the Marshall County Jail on the bond set by authorities.
Police said the investigation is still ongoing. For now, the cemetery is open again, and repairs to the damaged fence are being planned after the chase that brought officers, deputies and nearby residents racing across town.
Local news that matters, from Dulaney Griffin.
