ST. LOUIS – A man was taken into custody early Thursday morning after ending up in the Mississippi River following an overnight police chase in north St. Louis.
According to the St. Louis County Police Department, the pursuit began around 1:30 a.m. on eastbound I-70 near the Blanchette Bridge in Earth City, involving a suspect in a Chevy S-10 pickup truck.
The pursuit began after officers attempted to pull over the pickup truck, but the vehicle instead took off. According to police, the chase went over the Chain of Rocks Bridge into Illinois and came back over the bridge back to Missouri.
According to police, when the suspect came back around to the bridge after reentering Missouri, the suspect reportedly got out of the pickup truck and either fell or jumped off the bridge into the Mississippi River.
There was a large police presence on the scene as authorities had completely shut down the Chain of Rocks Bridge while searching for the suspect. The St. Louis Fire Department used boats for the search, according to police, before authorities eventually located the suspect at a water treatment plant in Riverview.
The suspect was taken into custody and transported to a nearby hospital, suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. According to police, no officers were injured during the pursuit.