A suspected motorcycle thief from Minnesota crashed into a law enforcement vehicle in Iowa and died while being pursued by a sheriff's deputy, officials said.
Suspected motorcycle thief from Minnesota dies in crash while fleeing deputy in Iowa
The motorcyclist ran into the vehicle of another deputy waiting to assist in the pursuit, according to the Iowa State Patrol.
August 31, 2022 at 1:24PM
The crash occurred about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday at a rural intersection about 50 miles west of Des Moines, the Iowa State Patrol said.
The patrol identified the man as Benjamin T. Wilber, 30, of Mora, and said he had an active warrant for his arrest issued out of Anoka County on a charge of fleeing police in a vehicle.
According to the patrol and the Adair County Sheriff's Office:
Shortly after midnight, an Adair County sheriff's deputy saw a motorcycle parked on the shoulder of an overpass above Interstate 80. The man on the motorcycle appeared to be slumped over. He told the deputy that he was cold and had stopped to rest or warm up.
The deputy ran a check on the license plate and learned the motorcycle was stolen from St. Cloud.
"The motorcycle had already gotten back onto Interstate 80 and was traveling westbound when the deputy attempted to catch up with and execute a traffic stop of the motorcycle," a Sheriff's Office statement read. "The operator of the motorcycle failed to yield to the deputy's emergency lights and siren and continued westbound until exiting [I-80] at Adair."
Wilber soon returned to the interstate and headed east toward Casey. After exiting, Wilber fled east on White Pole Road with an Adair County deputy in pursuit.
As he neared Juniper Avenue, Wilber crashed into the pickup truck of a Guthrie County deputy who was sitting at the intersection and waiting to assist in the pursuit.
Wilber was thrown from his motorcycle and died. The deputy in the pickup, 52-year-old Todd Thorn, was not hurt.
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