High-speed chase starts in Fallon, ends near Fernley

The Churchill County Sheriff's Department, Fallon police and the Nevada Highway Patrol were involved in a high-speed chase Friday.

The pursuit started outside Fallon on Friday afternoon and involved one vehicle with two occupants. Fallon Police Chief Russ Brooks said the vehicle entered city limits on Venturacci Lane and headed south.

It turned west onto West Williams Avenue and struck the vehicle of a woman who was heading eastbound and turning north into the Wal-Mart parking lot, he said. The woman did not sustain any injuries.

Brooks said an officer told him the car was traveling 70 mph down Venturacci Lane.

"It's a very busy intersection. We were so fortunate nobody got killed," he said.

Churchill County Sheriff's deputies backed off on the pursuit once the vehicle entered the city limits due to the amount of traffic at that time of the day, Brooks said. Authorities monitored the vehicle by maintaining visual contact.

Churchill County Commissioner Lynn Pearce was nearly struck by the vehicle, which he described as a dark gray, late-model compact car carrying two young men. Pearce was stopped near the entrance to the Wal-Mart and Safeway parking lots waiting to turn west when the car passed within six inches of his bumper.

"That car never stopped," Pearce said. "After they hit that truck, they just accelerated out and kept going down Auction Road."

The chase apparently ended with the arrest of suspects near Fernley. No other details were available.