Fleeing suspect on I-94 unfazed by spike strips, eventually stopped with PIT maneuver

BIG LAKE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Authorities arrested a man after he led police on a nearly 20-mile chase on Interstate 94 north of the Twin Cities metro Saturday. 

The Big Lake Police Department reported that at 1:24 a.m., officers were dispatched to a report of a court order violation in Big Lake. When one of the investigators arrived, he saw a vehicle with a man inside pulling away from the suspect’s home. He recognized the vehicle as one that had been used in several gas drive offs. 

The investigator followed the vehicle. When it ran a red light at the intersection of Highway 10 and County Road 81, he activated his emergency lights in an attempt to stop it. 

The suspect vehicle continued to flee into Monticello, eventually taking an exit onto I-94. 

Big Lake police officers continued their pursuit. Wright County sheriff’s deputies laid spike strips on the freeway under the County Road 37 overpass. The suspect vehicle hit the spike strips, but continued on I-94. 

The vehicle took the Highway 101 exit into Rogers. As the vehicle slowed, the investigator who had initially pursued it initiated a PIT maneuver and disabled the vehicle. 

Officers ordered the driver out of the vehicle. The investigator immediately recognized him the driver as the suspect due to prior contacts with law enforcement. 

Officers arrested the suspect, identified as Mark Curboy, 30, of Big Lake. He is now charged with a felony for fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.