By Dawn Burleigh

The Orange Leader

 

A man driving without headlights opted to flee from the police instead of stopping during what should have been a routine traffic stop on Tuesday.

Orange Police officer S.J. Mulhollan stopped a Suburban, at approximately midnight on Tuesday, traveling northbound on 16^th Street without lights.

The officer attempted a traffic stop as the vehicle turned onto an empty grass field and accelerated.

The Suburban continued to drive towards the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and Bob Hall Road. At times the vehicle would lose control with the rear of the vehicle skidding from one side to the other as the pursuit continued.

When the vehicle was near the railroad tracks, a man jumped out of the Suburban from the driver’s door and fled on foot as the vehicle continued forward under its own power before coming to a stop after rolling into a ditch.

The individual crossed a ditch, jumped the railroad tracks and ran into the woods at the 3300 block of Bob Hall Road.

Officers found the man, Dylan Michael Gray, 20, hiding in the bushes, laying face down and with his hands tucked under his torso.

Gray ignored commands to put his hands behind his back, according to a police report. He was removed from the bush by force and taken into custody.

Gray also refused to provide a voluntary written statement while he was being booked into the Orange County Jail.