NEWS

MCSO: Chase suspect was accused in 'copycat' freeway case

Megan Cassidy, and Natalie Tarangioli
The Arizona Republic
Crime

The man arrested Tuesday following a high-speed chase that spanned two counties was one of three men who, in September, were accused of slinging rocks into car windows.

Now, less than three months later, 18-year-old Christian Cook has again been booked into a Maricopa County jail.

Deputies are recommending charges of felony pursuit, displaying a fictitious license plate and for possession of stolen property, according to Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Chris Hegstrom.

The incident touched off around 8:30 a.m., when Pinal County dispatchers received a call about a suspicious person driving a white Honda up and down a single street. But when deputies arrived, the driver was found asleep at the wheel, according to Mark Clark, a spokesman for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

The driver woke up and immediately drove off in the car, which had been reported as stolen.

Pinal County sheriff's deputies pursued the Honda as the driver went along a canal and dirt roads heading north out of Pinal County and into Maricopa County, Clark said.

According to Clark, the Pinal County sheriff's deputies ended the pursuit after about 10 minutes but officers monitored the Honda from an air unit.

Just before 9 a.m., Maricopa County sheriff's deputies spotted the vehicle near the area of Rittenhouse and Ellsworth roads.

"We got behind the ... driver, Cook, who was reaching speeds of up to 100 miles per hour," Hegstrom said.

The driver sped westbound on Germann Road, northbound on Sossaman Road and wound up again on Germann, where he then drove into a dirt farm field, Hegstrom said.

The car spun its wheels while the driver was trying to flee, Hegstrom said, causing the engine to smoke and, eventually, igniting the entire vehicle.

Hegstrom said Cook had already left the vehicle by this point, and deputies immediately took him into custody. He was not injured.

Cook made headlines in September, when he, Albert German and Aaron Nottingham were accused of using slingshots to fire rocks into car windows on surface streets in the East Valley.

The incidents occurred at the height of a large-scale manhunt for the person responsible for a string of seemingly random freeway shootings. The slingshot case was at the time called a "copycat" incident.

Prosecutors have not yet filed charges against Cook in the slingshot incident, and have asked investigators for more information.