A Washington man with Wyoming ties led police on a two-county car chase, blocked off the interstate and tried backing his truck into the vehicles of the cops who were chasing him, police say.
Ultimately, a Campbell County Sheriff’s Office K-9 attacked the man when he tried to flee on foot, court documents say.
Benjamin Ray Larson, 41, now faces up to 11 years in prison plus fines on five charges leveled against him in Johnson County, plus another 16.5 years in prison and fines on four more charges filed in Campbell County.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Jacob Cheser was patrolling on Main and Hart streets in Buffalo, Wyoming, at about 10:30 a.m. Dec. 12, when he saw a black Dodge truck traveling north, passing in a no-passing zone, says an affidavit Cheser wrote.
The truck turned right onto Hart Street and accelerated. Cheser caught up to it and found it again passing in a no-passing zone. It then sped through an intersection and accelerated to 107 mph in a 45 mph zone, the document alleges.
Cheser flicked on his overhead lights and siren and tracked the truck as it merged onto Interstate 90 headed east. The driver, later identified as Larson, hurled something that looked like a water bottle out of the driver’s window and it landed near the median. The driver then hit the brakes so hard his front passenger tire locked up and smoked against the pavement, Cheser wrote.
The driver then kept going east and hit the brakes again in the middle of the interstate, hurled another water bottle at the median, swerved and straddled the center lane, then hit the brakes again “periodically,” the trooper added.
At around mile marker 82, Larson hit the brakes — and his backup lights turned on, Cheser wrote.
As it registered with the trooper that the truck was now in reverse, Larson backed up “very quickly and tried to ram the front of my truck with the rear of his truck,” says the affidavit. Cheser threw his own vehicle into reverse and backed away, he wrote, adding that Larson swerved left then shifted back into drive and took off.
Two miles down the interstate Larson again halted. This time he exited his truck and started running toward Cheser, who was still in his own vehicle, the document says.
“Mr. Larson appeared very unkempt and dirty while yelling that he did not trust the government and believes the government has altered his mind,” Cheser wrote. “(He) lifted his untucked sweater with his left hand and acted as though he was trying to retrieve a weapon from his waistband.”
Cheser grabbed his patrol rifle; but something triggered the magazine release, and the magazine dropped to the driver’s side floorboard. Its topmost round slid partway out.
With one eye on Larson, Cheser slid the round back into the magazine and put the magazine back in the rifle, Cheser wrote. He pointed the rifle at Larson and ordered Larson to “drop the weapon,” the affidavit says.
But when Larson raised both hands, the trooper realized the man didn’t actually have a weapon. Larson kept saying things like “f*** the feds,” and “you f***in’ enslaved my mind,” the affidavit says.
Larson took off his sweater and threw it to the ground, still berating Cheser, the document says, adding that Larson then retrieved his sweater and got back into his truck, fleeing eastward.
This time he hit speeds of 111 mph and swerved from lane to lane, crossing into Campbell County, Cheser wrote.
Spike Strips
Agents laid spike strips on the interstate.
Larson swerved around some at the 103 mile marker on Interstate 90, then met another set nine miles later, Cheser wrote.
At the second set of spike strips, Larson braked, threw his truck into reverse and backed up toward a WHP trooper who was in his vehicle in the left lane. The trooper backed away to escape, and Larson shifted back into drive, swerving around the spike strips, and again speeding away, the document says.
The third set of spike strips got him, the affidavit says. That was another mile down the road: Larson swerved off-road to the right to avoid the third set of spike strips, but it wasn’t enough; they deflated his front tires and he rattled to a stop in a barrow ditch off the right-hand road shoulder, wrote Cheser.
Attack Dog
With raised arms, Larson got out of his truck and started walking toward the troopers. Cheser stepped out of his truck and pointed his rifle at Larson, who kept yelling insults about how the agents were enslaving his mind, the trooper wrote.
Larson knelt on the ground but refused to lie down. He asked for a cigarette, and troopers said no, he couldn’t have one; they ordered him to lie down, the affidavit says.
When denied a cigarette, Larson stood and started walking toward his truck again; a Campbell County Sheriff’s Office K-9 agent “was deployed to keep him from getting in the vehicle,” Cheser wrote.
The dog bit Larson, who then laid down on the ground next to the driver’s side rear tire of the vehicle, the document adds.
Troopers handcuffed Larson, who reeked of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes, Cheser wrote. They put him in the cage of a trooper’s vehicle and later took him to Campbell County Health — since he’d been bitten by a dog — and then on to the Campbell County Detention Center.
The Tally
In Larson’s vehicle, troopers found a misdemeanor amount of a plant they believed to be marijuana, the document says. They put it in a temporary evidence locker in Gillette.
In Johnson County, Larson faces a felony of police interference based on the allegation that he tried to injure a trooper by charging him backward in his truck. That’s punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
In that case, which Johnson County Attorney Tucker Ruby charged on Friday, he also faces:
• One count of reckless driving (punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines).
• One count of blocking road lanes (up to six months and $750).
• Driving 107 in a 45 mph zone (up to $380 in fines).
• Driving 110 mph on the interstate (up to $395).
In the Campbell County case, which Chief Deputy County Attorney Greg Steward charged Dec. 13, Larson faces another count of felony police interference, plus:
• A felony charge of aggravated eluding (up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines).
• DUI (up to six months and $750).
• Misdemeanor marijuana possession (up to one year in jail and $1,000).
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
