SAC CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — A pursuit in several northwest Iowa counties Friday ended in the suspect’s death, authorities say.
According to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office, they received a report on June 14 at about 3:18 p.m. of a vehicle pursuit in Crawford County. The vehicle was a Lincoln Navigator SUV that had reportedly been stolen out of Woodbury County that morning. The SUV was apparently heading north towards Ida and Sac Counties.
The suspect of the stolen SUV was Jason Scott French of Manilla in Crawford County. He was wanted on a felony warrant out of South Dakota, according to authorities. He also allegedly had a handgun and had threatened officers.
Crawford County officials cancelled the pursuit, but an Ida County deputy found the SUV in the southeastern part of Ida County. French was further pursued north, but the SUV was unable to be stopped. Sac County authorities and the Iowa State Patrol continued the pursuit into Sac County, where the SUV eventually hit a fence and stopped in a ditch.
French then allegedly stepped out of the vehicle with a gun. Authorities tried to communicate with him, but after a two-hour standoff, they heard a gunshot. French was then found dead with a gun nearby on the ground, according to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office. An autopsy revealed a “contact gunshot wound to the head.”
Authorities say they did not fire any shots themselves.