Man leads cops on chase through town

A man who led city and county law enforcement authorities on a high-speed chase throughout Mountain Home Friday was arrested and held on a $23,000 bond as he faces numerous charges including assaulting the county sheriff.

The incident began last Friday afternoon when a Mountain Home police officer went to Skyview Apartments to make a simple welfare check (a check on someone's condition). While at the apartments, the officer noticed and recognized Cory Sauce, 20, approaching the building, where he apparently was staying.

Sauce had been wanted for more than a year on an outstanding warrant related to a lewd and lascivious charge. "We'd chased him before," said Police Chief Tom Berry, "but he'd apparently gone to Texas." Authorities believe he had recently returned to Mountain Home.

Sauce bolted and ran as soon as he was approached by the officer and city police immediately began a multi-officer search of the apartment complex and nearby area, but were unable to find the suspect. Their investigation eventually led them to believe he may have left the area of the apartments in his car and an all points bulletin was issued.

About an hour later, Sheriff Rick Layher stopped at the Kwik Stop on Highway 30 to buy a soda pop. "While I was there, this guy came in and he fit the description," Layher said, "so I ID'd him." Layher said Sauce gave him a social security card with an hispanic name on it, "but he didn't look hispanic, so I asked him for some registration from his car."

The two went to the vehicle, Sauce got in the car, Layher said, "and suddenly he throws the car in gear and floors it."

The driver's side door was still open and Layher said he leaped into the car, wrestling with Sauce, who was about the same size as Layher, and attempted to get the car out of gear. The vehicle backed up and moved forward several times while the two were wrestling, at one point narrowly missing hitting the Kwik Stop and also backing across Highway 30. Layher said he couldn't turn the car off because it had no key and eventually tried to simply blow the engine. "He had his foot to the floor (on the gas) and I was hoping if I could get it out of gear the engine would blow."

Layher said Sauce managed to get the car aimed down Highway 30 and took off at a high rate of speed, with the sheriff still hanging on for a while, and being dragged down the road before he was forced to jump free. "I could see I couldn't stop him," the sheriff said. Layher suffered minor cuts and abrasians when he hit the pavement.

Sauce headed east on Highway 30, and by the time Layher got back to his own vehicle and called it in, "I'd lost him." He headed east on the highway into the county and radioed ahead for other deputies in the area to watch for the vehicle.

But a few minutes later, Sandy Martin, who used to work for law enforcement and now runs the city animal shelter, saw the car pass the shelter heading back into town.

"I had my (police band) radio on and saw this car that matched the description go by at a high rate of speed," she said. The car had come across the tracks, blew past the stop sign there and headed into the city on 14th Street.

City officers began converging on the spotted location and picked Sauce up at 14th and American Legion, chasing him through the city and past East Elementary shortly after school had let out. They finally stopped the car in the 1100 block of Baker Drive, where Sauce got out and began running west through the yards of area houses.

He then ran into a house one Abbott Drive, which loops off 10th East Street. An officer at the back of the house saw him attempt to leave, then run back into the house, which police quickly surrounded.

After determining that no one was home at the time the officers entered the house and began an extensive room-by-room search of the house.

"We searched every nook and cranny of that house, even using dogs," Layher said.

Eventually, one of the officers, Mike Barclay, pulled up a mattress and found Sauce under a bed in the house. He had managed to crawl up into the box springs of the bed.

Ultimately, almost every city and county officer in the area had been involved in trying to track down and find Sauce.

He was booked into the Elmore County jail on the old lewd and lascivious charge and also charged with felony aggravated battery on a police officer, felony eluding, obstructing justice, unlawful entry and possession of drug paraphrenalia. He was arraigned Monday afternoon.

The chase through town reached speeds well over 60 mph.