A driver’s reason for a 40-mile police chase in which speeds sometimes topped 100 mph is straight out of a movie script.
Thomas W. Lee, 39, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, pleaded no contest to two dozen charges stemming from a September chase that began in Hempfield, Pennsylvania, The Tribune-Review in western Pennsylvania reported.
Lee, who appeared in a Westmoreland County courtroom on Tuesday, said he stole a car for the chase because he was “tired of walking,” the newspaper reported. His explanation, however, didn’t stop there.
“I thought I was a time traveler because I was on drugs. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone,” Lee reportedly said.
“I was just trying to save my son.”
Officers pursued him on the Pennsylvania Turnpike until he hit a spike strip laid across the highway, according to police.
He attempted to run away, but officers hit Lee with a Taser and then took him into custody, the police report said.
The charges against Lee included aggravated assault with a vehicle, drunken driving, fleeing police and resisting arrest.
He could face up to 10 years in prison.
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