Police: Man drives dangerously, causes crash and allegedly told law enforcement he knew he had a warrant
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IDAHO FALLS — A 21-year-old Bonneville County man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly driving dangerously and causing a crash in an attempt to avoid a traffic stop.
The incident happened on Tuesday at around 6:40 p.m. According to Jessica Clements, a spokeswoman with the Idaho Falls Police Department, a police officer was patrolling near the area of Pancheri Drive and Tara Street when the officer noticed a vehicle and found out that it had a suspended registration for lack of insurance.
The officer tried to stop the vehicle — a 1997 Ford Taurus — by activating lights and sirens, but the driver refused to stop, Clements said in an email to EastIdahoNews.com.
She said the officer went after the vehicle, but the driver drove away at a “high rate of speed.” The driver was traveling more than 30 mph over the posted speed limit of 35 mph and drove dangerously.
At one point, he was driving “80 to 85 mph,” according to court documents.
The officer then lost sight of the vehicle. The officer identified the driver as Jose Cisneros.
“Due to Jose’s reckless driving and his lack of due regard for the public, I strongly believed that at Sunnyside and Snake River Parkway, he was going to cause a potential accident,” the officer wrote in court documents.
As the officer approached the intersection of Snake River Parkway and Sunnyside Road, he found that the suspect had already caused a crash, hitting a Chevy Equinox before colliding with the guardrail and coming to a stop.
Cisneros was detained. However, he wasn’t the only person in the vehicle. A woman, along with two young children in car seats, were passengers.
Several community members stopped to help the officer and those involved in the collision until additional officers and EMS arrived on the scene, Clements said.
She said officers searched the vehicle and found a joint that Cisneros claimed was his. He told officers he attempted to flee because he knew he had a warrant.
Cisneros was transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in stable condition, where he received treatment for injuries in the crash and medical clearance before being taken to jail.
The woman who was in the vehicle with him was transported by EMS in stable condition and treated and released from the ER the same day, Clements said. The children did not require treatment. Court documents said one of the children was an infant, while the other was 18 months old.
The other vehicle involved in the collision was driven by a woman with no passengers. She had minor injuries and was not transported to the hospital, according to Clements. Her vehicle had severe front-end damage and was towed from the scene. The collision caused approximately $4,000 worth of damage, court documents said.
Cisneros was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail for felony eluding, two counts of felony injury to a child, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) and the Bonneville County warrant.
Cisneros had an initial appearance in court on Wednesday. According to court records, he is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 25 at 1 p.m. at the Bonneville County courthouse.