A Casper man who tried to outrun police in the dark at speeds of up to an estimated 105 mph with his lights turned off admitted that he “should of just pulled over” and “faced the ticket” after wrecking the truck he’d just bought.
Instead, Julien Reeves, born in 2005, was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of a laundry list of criminal charges that include eluding, reckless driving, two counts of endangering, and speeding, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Mills Police Officer Terry Good.
He made his first appearance in Natrona County Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon.
“While en route to the detention center, Reeves made the comment that, ‘You know what? All of us have our days, and we all have our moments, and this moment of mine is not the best. Not at all,’” the affidavit says.
Officer Good explained to Reeves that he likely would have only been given a couple of traffic tickets if he’d stopped in Casper when police there first contacted him.
“Reeves responded, ‘I know, I know, I know,’” the Mills officer wrote. “‘I should of, I should of just pulled over in Casper and just f***ing faced the ticket.’”
Along with running red lights and stop signs along his miles-long attempt to flee police, Reeves also allegedly terrified two girls riding in the truck with him at the time, the affidavit says.
When interviewed by police after the chase, both young women said they repeatedly begged Reeves to slow down and stop for police.
“They were telling me to pull over the whole time,” Reeves confirmed to police in his own interview, stressing the girls had done nothing wrong.
“Reeves did not initially realize there was a police officer behind him and (one of the girls) told Reeves to, ‘Pull over, like, you need to pull over.’ I kept telling him to pull over and I kept yelling at him.
“I was (then) like … ‘you’re gonna make it worse,’ and he made it f***ing worse.”
Racing And Weaving
A little earlier that night at about 9:30, Reeves was allegedly observed racing a white car in his dark-colored truck westbound on East 2nd Street in Casper, Casper Police Officer Kaysia Skinner wrote in her own affidavit.
Skinner turned around and followed the truck, which “continued downtown at a high rate of speed,” she wrote.
After Reeves ran a red light, Skinner turned on her emergency lights and siren, but Reeves ignored her, the affidavit says. In fact, he turned off his headlights and running taillights instead.
Without lights, the truck “continued to weave between vehicles at a high rate of speed,” the affidavit says.
Because of the heavy traffic in the area and the unsafe way Reeves was driving, the chase was called off, Skinner wrote.
The truck was last seen speeding west out of Casper toward Mills.
Up To 105 MPH
That’s where Officer Good picked up the chase, having heard dispatch traffic about the chase heading his way, he wrote.
Good was heading eastbound on West Yellowstone Highway when he saw Reeves’ truck speed west past him.
“Officer Good estimated the vehicle was traveling 85 mph in a 40 mph zone,” the affidavit says. “Officer Good activated his radar unit and tracked the vehicle traveling at 82 mph.”
Reeves continued to speed, accelerating to over 100 mph at times while making sharp turns and dangerous moves, including driving the wrong way, the affidavit says. Because it was late, there was no oncoming traffic at the time.
“Officer Good was only able to catch up to the vehicle as it approached the intersection of W. Yellowstone Hwy. and the Salt Creek Bypass,” the affidavit says. “The vehicle turned into the right-hand turning lane as if to turn onto the bypass.
“The vehicle slowed and then made a sharp left-hand turn back into the westbound lane of travel and sped up, passing through the intersection, running the red light.”
As the truck approached Zero Road, it made a sharp turn that put him on the wrong side of the West Yellowstone Highway, Good wrote.
“There was no oncoming traffic on that roadway, and the vehicle was able to make the turn without colliding with oncoming traffic,” according to the affidavit.
For the next 9 miles, Reeves drove at speeds ranging from 75 mph to about 105 mph, Good wrote.
All the while, he ran without headlights, turning them on briefly at times “as if to see the roadway, then shut them off again,” the affidavit says.
‘Just Trying To Get Away’
The chase finally came to an end as Reeves was doing about 100 mph approaching the intersection with Twelve Mile Road and tried to make a sharp left turn.
“The vehicle was going at a high rate of speed, slowing down from approximately 100 mph to make the turn,” the affidavit says. “The vehicle ran off the road, onto the shoulder and almost struck a street sign.”
Reeves tried to keep driving the truck for a short distance, but finally came to a stop.
Reeves then “threw his hands out the driver’s side window,” Good wrote. “The passenger side door opened, and two younger females exited the vehicle with their hands up.”
After he was detained, Reeves denied being involved in a street race in Casper, but offered some insight into why he tried to flee police.
“‘I, I wasn’t racing anyone,’” Good wrote in his affidavit. “Reeves saw the officer from the Casper Police Department, and he ‘flipped a bitch, and I was like, uh uh, no, and I kept going, and then I got into Mills, and then you guys got on me and, you know, here we are.”
When asked about why he drove the wrong way on a road during the chase, the affidavit says that Reeves responded: “Like, I’m not gonna lie, I was just trying to get away.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
