May 27, 2017 4 min read

Four more people were charged Thursday following a UTV chase involving Greene County Regional police in Mt. Morris earlier this month.

Cody Earl Vandusen, 20, Ethan Elliott Lamar, 19, Ryan Alexander Adams, 19, all of Morgantown, W.Va., and William Christopher Luckey, 18, of Mt. Morris, are each facing several charges after police allegedly found evidence through their friend’s cellphone they were speeding around the area on their UTVs May 13.

Police had charged David Dillan Smith, 24, of 207 Little Shannon Run Road, Mt. Morris, Wednesday in connection to the chase. Police then issued a search warrant of Smith’s cellphone and found text messages, implying the four other defendants were involved in the chase.

“We did get a look at Mr. Smith’s phone, and we found things on his phone that confirmed his involvement and the involvement of the others,” Greene County Regional Police Chief Michael Natale said. “He confirmed his part in it and gave us the information on the others.”

The chase began around 10:30 p.m., when a patrol officer pulled into a parking lot near O’Reilly’s Bar on Mt. Morris Road, where three UTVs were parked and five people were standing around drinking beer.

Police said upon their arrival the defendants got into the UTVs and sped away from police. Police said they followed one of the UTVs at 80 miles per hour through Mt. Morris, as the suspects were throwing beer cans onto the road. Police said they stopped the chase when other cars were on the road and when they received another 911 call in another area.

Natale said the community helped them identify the defendants, who are “known around town for doing this.”

“As you can imagine, it’s a small town where everybody knows everybody,” he said. “So, it wasn’t hard to get the names of the people involved or find out where they live.”

Police said an anonymous source provided them with a screenshot photo that was purported to be a recording of the chase posted on the social media network Snapchat.

“Social media played a part in helping us identify who the participants were,” Natale said.

Police said around 11 p.m. they found Smith’s UTV in the parking lot of a funeral home on Ellsworth Avenue. Upon police arriving, Smith allegedly took off again in the UTV, but Vandusen was still standing in the lot.

Vandusen told police Smith asked him to pick him and his vehicle up at the funeral home. Vandusen said he brought his trailer to pick up Smith, but was unaware Smith was running from police, the complaint said. Police said that wasn’t a true statement, because they later discovered Vandusen was one of the UTV drivers allegedly running from police.

Vandusen gave police Smith’s name and phone number, the complaint said, and police were able to arrest Smith.

Smith was charged with fleeing an officer, recklessly endangering another person and 10 traffic-related summary offenses, including driving a utility task vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He was jailed on a $10,000 percentage bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. June 6.

Police filed arrest warrants for all three defendants from Morgantown, who were each charged with fleeing an officer, giving false information to police, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and 11 summary offenses. Vandusen and Lamar, who was Vandusen’s passenger, were additionally charged with giving a false statement to police.

Police said Luckey’s girlfriend was in the vehicle with him during the police chase. He was charged with fleeing an officer, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and 14 summary offenses. He was arrested and is out on a $10,000 percentage bond.