High-Speed Chase Ends With Flipped Cars

OCEAN CITY – A Pasadena, Md. man was arrested on drunk driving and multiple other charges last weekend after allegedly stealing a car in north Ocean City and leading resort police on a lights out, high-speed chase that ended with multiple vehicles flipped over and on their roofs.

Around 11:40 p.m. last Saturday, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) personnel spotted a Honda Civic traveling southbound in the bus lane of Coastal Highway without its headlights on. OCPD officers attempted to stop the Honda, but the vehicle fled from police and continued heading south on Coastal Highway. OCPD officers attempted to pursue the fleeing Honda, but lost sight of the vehicle in the area of 40th Street.

Shortly after losing the Honda, police responded to the area of 33rd Street and Coastal Highway for a multiple-car crash involving four vehicles, two of which were overturned. OCPD officers then determined one of the overturned vehicles was the Honda Civic they were pursuing moments earlier.

Witnesses told police the driver of the Honda, later identified as Steven Daniel Quayle, 21, of Pasadena, Md., had crawled out of the overturned vehicle and fled the area on foot heading southbound. A short time later, Quayle was spotted in the area of the Jolly Roger amusement park and was apprehended by an OCPD bicycle officer.

Meanwhile, the investigation began to unravel the events leading up to the wreckage on Coastal Highway at 33rd Street. Investigators learned Quayle had stolen the Honda Civic earlier in the area of 133rd Street, made his fateful run down Coastal Highway with no lights on and had been in a vehicle collision involving property damage at 59th Street before resort police first spotted the Honda at 49th Street and began pursuing it.

After he alluded police at 40th Street, Quayle allegedly side-swiped a Hyundai SUV at 33rd Street before veering off and striking a Chevrolet Cavalier and a Mazda pick-up, causing the latter to flip over onto its roof and crash into a light post in front of the McDonalds on 32nd Street. All three occupants of the pick-up truck were trapped inside the overturned vehicle for about 25 minutes before being extracted by the Ocean City Fire Department. All three victims, whose names have not been released, were transported to area hospitals with injuries not believed to be life threatening.

After striking and flipping the pick-up truck, the Honda that Quayle was driving also overturned and slid over 250 feet on its roof before striking the rear of a taxicab also heading south on Coastal Highway, which is when the suspect crawled out and fled south on foot.

Resort police later determined Quayle was driving under the influence after learning his breath-alcohol content was more than two times the legal limit. All four lanes of southbound Coastal Highway remained closed for nearly two hours as officers investigated the collision and crews cleared the vehicles and debris from the roadway.

Quayle faces numerous criminal and traffic-related charges including motor vehicle theft, multiple counts of leaving the scene of an accident, driving under the influence and while impaired and a long list of other traffic violations. He was briefly held all day on Sunday while awaiting an initial appearance in front of a District Court Commissioner. Quayle was released on Monday after posting a $25,000 bond.