High Speed Chase Ends in Deadly Crash

One person has died in an early morning chase in Linn County.

The incident began at about 3:45am today (Wednesday, March 3), when a sheriff's deputy noticed a van with no license plates, apparently prowling a residential area in Atkins. The van then failed to stop at a stop sign.

The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to pull over and a chase began. The pursuit went south out of Atkins, then west on Highway 30, reaching speeds of 115 mph.

The chase then went south into Belle Plaine, then east on 77th Street. The pursuit ended shortly after 4am, when the van left the road and collided with a culvert in Benton County.

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The male driver was pronounced dead at the scene, and a female passenger was trapped inside the van. The passenger was flown to University Hospitals with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Names of those involved will not be released until relatives can be notified.

Assisting at the scene of the crash were the Iowa State Patrol, and sheriff's offices from Benton, Iowa and Tama Counties.

The incident remains under investigation.