On Monday, the operator of a possibly stolen four-wheeler led a Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office patrol lieutenant on a chase before being apprehended after he crashed the vehicle on Sol Hart Road in rural Washington Parish north of Franklinton, according to Chief Deputy Mike Haley of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Haley said that the lieutenant encountered the four-wheeler being driven on Louisiana Highway 430 and began the pursuit. The driver reportedly failed to yield and turned west on Jamieson Creek Road and then south on Sol Hart Road.

While traveling at an excessive speed on Sol Hart Road, the four-wheeler almost collided with a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction before crashing when the operator failed to negotiate a curve on the gravel road, Haley said. The driver was not injured and was quickly apprehended.

Christian Martinique Gordon, 18, a resident of Emma Hart Road, and the operator of the four-wheeler, was arrested and booked into the Washington Parish Jail. He was charged with operating an off-road vehicle on a public highway, aggravated flight from an officer, no driver’s license and no license plate. He was released from jail the same day after posting a $10,000 bond, Haley said.

Haley said that it is suspected that the four-wheeler had been stolen, since a portion of the vehicle identification number had been destroyed, and that is likely why Gordon fled.

The four-wheeler is identified as a Red Honda Rancher 420. If any person can identify the four-wheeler as their stolen property, they are asked to contact Detective Captain Tom Anderson at 985-839-3434, ext. 2059.

“Louisiana law is specific that off-road vehicles may not be operated on a public road, except under very specific farm-related circumstances,” Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal said. “The danger to the operator is obvious. I am so pleased that our lieutenant was able to apprehend the operator and recover this likely stolen vehicle.”