February 25, 2020
By News Director Jared Atha
An Indiana man is facing eluding and DUI charges in Beckham County after leading police on a chase on Interstate 40 on Monday morning.
According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, 21-year-old Michael Southgate of Noblesville, Indiana was pulled over in the westbound lanes of I-40 west of Sayre after it was reported that he may have been driving recklessly. The report said that Southgate failed to comply with verbal commands at the scene and fled the scene in the his vehicle. Southgate allegedly led two patrolman in a pursuit in the westbound lanes that saw the suspect cross the center median, cross the eastbound lanes and go airborne on the south side of the interstate. OHP reported that the vehicle rolled multiple times before coming to rest on it’s top. Southgate’s leg was pinned and it took emergency personal about 20 minutes to extract Southgate from the vehicle.
Southgate was transported to Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City with trunk internal injuries. He was later transferred and admitted into an Oklahoma City hospital, last listed to be in stable condition.
No formal charges have been filed against Southgate as of press time, however in the incident report OHP reported the cause of the collision and condition of the driver being “DUI drugs”.
