Larsen-Smith Charged With Eluding Police Before

The 30 year old who the Highway Patrol says led a trooper on a high speed chase Friday met with investigators in the hospital Monday, but police say Jason Larsen-Smith isn't cooperating.

The chase lasted eight minutes early Friday morning and reached speeds of 75 miles per hour. It ended when Larsen-Smith's SUV 'T-boned' a pick-up truck, killing 62-year-old Curtis Neuharth. But apparently, it isn't the first time Larsen-Smith has been part of a pursuit.

When KELOLAND News dug further into his criminal record it shows back in July of 1999 he was charged with attempting to elude police. That was the same time he was charged with his fourth DUI. The eluding police charge was eventually dismissed because Larsen-Smith pleaded guilty to driving drunk, but it was actually a second time he was charged with running from authorities. 

Just a year earlier, in October of 1998 he was also charged with running from police, but that charge was also dismissed when he pleaded guilty to his third DUI. So, in a span of nine months, Larsen-Smith was convicted of his third and fourth DUI, and charged twice with trying to run from police. 

Sioux Falls Police Lieutenant Jerome Miller says as part of the investigation into Friday's crash he wants to talk with the officers who have had contact with Larsen-Smith over the past several years. He wants to know the circumstances of the arrests in those cases to determine whether that information is useful surrounding this case.

It's unclear when the police investigation will be done, but his blood alcohol level isn't expected to be available until at least Thursday, possibly not until next week.

At that point the report will be back from the state lab in Pierre.