(Grand Island, NE) -- A Grand Island man is behind bars, accused of leading law enforcement on a high speed, multi-county chase with a child in the car.
The Nebraska State Patrol says just after midnight Tuesday morning, troopers were alerted that Hall County Deputies were looking for a Jeep Grand Cherokee, whose driver had reportedly been involved in a domestic incident and had left with a small child inside the vehicle. The state patrol says a short time later, the Grand Island Police Department located the vehicle and initiated a pursuit.
The NSP says as the vehicle exited Grand Island eastbound on Highway 34, Grand Island Police ended their pursuit. NSP troopers continued eastbound on Highway 34 and located the vehicle again, which had lost control and came to a stop at the junction of Highway 34 and Highway 2. Investigators say troopers gave verbal commands to the driver of the Jeep, but that the driver refused to comply and began driving southbound on Highway 2.
The state patrol says troopers and deputies pursued the vehicle southbound on Highway 2, then eastbound onto I-80, where the Jeep reached speeds of approximately 100 miles per hour. NSP says the Jeep then exited at mile marker 332 and went north into a residential area of Aurora. Aurora Police Officers then located the vehicle at a home where the driver, 29 year old Miguel Samaniego, was arrested.
Samaniego was lodged in Hamilton County Jail for willful reckless driving, flight to avoid arrest, driving under the influence of alcohol, child neglect, transporting a child while intoxicated, no operator’s license, open alcohol container, and numerous traffic violations. The child was transported by NSP back to Grand Island to be reunited with his mother. Additional charges are pending with the Grand Island Police Department.