CASPER — A 31-year-old Casper is accused of plowing into multiple patrol vehicles and another truck while leading law enforcement on a wild 100 mph chase through Bar Nunn and Mills.
By the time Christopher Dylan Noah was finally stopped by authorities Saturday, two patrol vehicles and a 2018 GMC Terrain parked in front of a Bar Nunn home had been hit and the Honda Pilot Noah drove was pummeled with a shredded front right tire, according to court documents made available Thursday.
Noah faces a preliminary examination Tuesday on multiple charges after police say he fled a traffic stop and led multiple police agencies on a 30-minute chase.
He's charged with aggravated eluding, two counts of property destruction and defacement, all felonies, as well as reckless endangerment and interference with a peace officer, both misdemeanors.
“(Noah) showed a wanton disregard for human life while operating a motor vehicle throughout the incident,” a police affidavit states. “Noah had improperly displayed license plates, failed to obey (a) traffic control device when he crossed the highway median, (and) committed multiple occasions of failing to obey lawful commands by sworn law enforcement.”
Court records show a Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputy noticed the gold Honda Pilot traveling east on West Yellowstone Highway at 11:48 a.m. Saturday with an expired tab on the front plate.
The driver turned his head away from deputy and raised his arm to hide his face.
The deputy got behind the vehicle and noticed a different plate on the back than on the front.
When he tried to pull the vehicle over as it turned east on the U.S. Highway 20-26 interstate bypass, the Honda accelerated to 100 mph approaching the I-25 interchange.
Noah then turned onto the freeway and headed north at high speeds.
The affidavit states Noah led the deputy off the freeway at Howard Street and turned north on Salt Creek.
A second deputy joined the pursuit, but both deputies stopped their chase with lights and sirens because of other traffic in the area and as Noah passed several vehicles on Salt Creek Highway.
Box-In Attempt
Noah sped past Bar Nunn and reentered the freeway where deputies resumed their pursuit.
About 9 miles north, they tried to box him in front and in back with a semi in the other lane beside Noah, but he turned off on a freeway service drive and headed south at a high rate of speed.
A third deputy who had joined the chase deployed tire deflation strips just before Exit 194 at Westwinds Road on the north side of Bar Nunn.
Noah swerved to avoid the strip, but the Honda’s front passenger tire hit one and started deflating. Noah exited the freeway and turned toward Bar Nunn.
With his tire shredding, Noah avoided another attempt to box him in, slowed while on Wardwell Industrial Avenue in Bar Nunn. Then when deputies tried to box him in, he slammed on the brakes causing a deputy’s patrol truck to hit the rear end of the Honda.
Noah briefly stopped and a deputy got out of his vehicle, pulled his weapon and ordered Noah out of his car, grabbing the driver’s side door.
Instead, Noah accelerated, causing the deputy to fall, then drove through a yard until re-entering Wardwell Industrial Avenue, the affidavit states.
As Noah went through a residential neighborhood in the 4000 block of Bel Vista, deputies again tried to box the Honda in.
Noah stopped. A deputy left his patrol truck in front and drew his handgun while a deputy in a vehicle in the rear of the Honda was about to exit his truck.
“The Honda accelerated in reverse, striking the front of (the deputy’s) patrol truck,” the affidavit states.
The hood on the truck popped up.
Noah disregarded the deputy in front telling him to get out of the vehicle, accelerated, struck the driver’s side door on that deputy’s patrol truck and its front fender, as well as the front driver side of a GMC Terrain parked on the street.
Noah then drove down more Bar Nunn streets and again avoided a deputy’s attempt to throw spike strips.
As Noah drove south on Arena Street in the town, a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper took over primary pursuit.
Tactical Intervention
The affidavit says the trooper performed a tactical intervention maneuver on the Honda, Noah lost control and came to a stop adjacent to Antelope Park.
The affidavit says a deputy pulled his truck directly in front of the Honda to keep it from moving, got out and pointed his rifle at Noah “while yelling, ‘Get out of the car!'”
“Noah responded by accelerating again, driving over a tree and through the grass of the park at a high rate of speed,” the affidavit states. “The Honda cut through the parking lot of Bar Nunn Baptist Church and turned east on Sunset.”
Noah then drove to Salt Creek Highway and headed south at 35-50 mph, the affidavit states.
Another attempt to use spikes, this time by Casper police officers, was avoided by Noah.
Deputies and officers from Casper, Wyoming Highway Patrol, and Mills pursued Noah as he drove south on Salt Creek back into Mills, east on Yellowstone Highway and then south on Van Horn at 50 mph in a 20 mph zone.
A second state trooper tactical vehicle intervention finally stopped the Honda for good at First and 13th streets in Mills.
“The Honda lost control and hit a bridge railing on the east side of the road,” the affidavit states.
When Noah tried to back up, a deputy “immobilized” the right rear tire.
The affidavit states that Noah refused to get out of the vehicle and a deputy broke his driver’s side window.
That’s when he finally gave up.
“Upon his window breaking, Noah put his hands in the air,” the affidavit states.
Noah, who has several criminal cases in the court record, recognized a deputy who had formerly worked in the jail and said casually, “How’s it going man?”
‘Apologetic’
Following his arrest, the affidavit states Noah was “apologetic” and “upset” about the Honda, which belonged to “an older lady for whom he was caring for.”
Noah told officers he took off because he was on probation and worried that if he was stopped, he would go to jail and have his probation revoked.
Damage to the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office vehicles was estimated at $6,000 to $8,000 for the patrol truck struck in the passenger door and $3,500 to $5,000 for truck that police say Noah reversed the Honda into.
Damage to the GMC Terrain is estimated at between $5,000 and $8,000.
Aggravated eluding carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The two property destruction and defacement charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 fines.
The reckless endangerment charge is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $750 fine and the interference charge carries a potential penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Noah remains in the Natrona County jail. His bond was set at $75,000.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
