Published: April 15, 2009 09:27 pm      

Police: Chase reached 170 mph

A 27-year-old Mesquite man was arrested in Palestine Tuesday after leading law officers on a high-speed motorcycle chase on U.S. Highway 175.

Robert Wayne Dehaven was booked into the Henderson County Jail on multiple traffic offenses including operating an unregistered vehicle, driving without a license, driving without liability insurance and violation of a promise to appear in court. Eustace Police Department investigator John Dixon said an evading arrest and detention charge will be filed on Dehaven within next couple of days.

Dixon said his department first learned of the speeding motorcycle shortly after 6 a.m. when a Mabank policeman clocked it heading east at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. EPD observed Dehaven shortly before 7 a.m. and began to pursue the motorcycle toward Athens.

“We had his speed one time on Hwy. 175 at 170 miles per hour,” Dixon said.

Athens Police Department Sgt. Brett Morman and Officers Ron McCurry and Chad Walker joined the chase as the vehicle turned east on Loop 7. DeHaven’s next turn was left on Farm-to-Market Road 1616. After that, officers lost sight of the motorcycle near Murchison Ranch.

“When he got into Athens, the officer shut the chase down because of traffic, school buses and stuff,” Dixon said.

The trail heated up again when EPD received an anonymous phone call that said Dehaven was at his workplace in Palestine. EPD arrested him near the work-site with the help of the Palestine Police Department and the Department of Public Safety.

“We tracked him down. Fortunately he had warrants out of Athens, so we arrested him on that,” Dixon said. “We’re getting our case together on the evading arrest now.”