The North Dakota Highway Patrol says a man fleeing from a trooper Wednesday in Grand Forks County was arrested after veering into a soybean field.
"One would think that it was an effort to lose us," Capt. Kevin Robson said of the detour into the field.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a trooper clocked the suspect, 25-year-old Michael Bakke, going 84 mph in a 65-mph zone on state Highway 18, north of U.S. Highway 2, the patrol said.
The patrol said the trooper tried to stop the car, but Bakke fled, eventually steering into the field.
Rather than follow Bakke, Robson said, officers monitored the edges of the field. "He drove around in the bean field for quite a time trying to find an escape route," Robson said.
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Robson said Bakke eventually left his car and ran from the bean field across a road into a cornfield. Using a helicopter, border officials spotted Bakke and directed officers on the ground to his location, the captain said.
After Bakke was arrested without incident just before 3:30 p.m., he complained of a knee injury and was taken to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks to be evaluated, Robson said.
Bakke, of Edinburg, N.D., was booked on suspicion of driving under suspension, fleeing in a motor vehicle and speeding.
A message left for him at the county jail was not returned Wednesday.
Ingersoll reports on crime and courts. Reach him at (701) 780-1269; (800) 477-6572, ext. 269; or send e-mail to aingersoll@gfherald.com .
