High-speed chase ends when car hits pole

MONTICELLO – A high-speed chase through the streets of Monticello and Town of Thompson ended Monday when the 27-year-old driver crashed into a telephone pole.

Village Police spotted Darcy Copeland, Jr., with a male passenger, in a car with Connecticut plate. Police said he failed to stop at a stop sign and took off when an officer tried to stop him. A seven minute high-speed chase ensued with Copeland running cars off the road, driving the wrong way down one-way street and endangering several pedestrians.

He was finally arrested when he lost control and slammed into a pole at Park Avenue and Morris Drive. Police said his passenger jumped out of the car at some point and fled on foot.

Copeland was charged with felony reckless endangerment in the first degree, and misdemeanors for unlawfully fleeing from a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree, reckless driving and resisting arrest. He was also issued 18 vehicle and traffic summonses.