Police arrest suspect responsible for serious crash at Jolly Lane and Twilight Drive
The Rapid City Police Department has arrested 20-year-old Elijah Wright of Rapid City for offenses related to the January 3rd crash that injured himself and four others at the intersection of Jolly Lane and Twilight Drive.
Wright has since been arrested for offenses that include DUI, four counts of Vehicular Battery, Aggravated Eluding, Reckless Driving and Speeding. He has been placed into the custody of the Pennington County Jail.
The incident began after local law enforcement received information about a drug transaction involving a suspect vehicle. Additional information provided to law enforcement indicated that the occupants were armed.
Deputies of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office located the suspect vehicle and a traffic stop was attempted on the vehicle in the area of Highway 44 and Teewinot Drive. The vehicle did not stop for law enforcement. The pursuit lasted about two minutes and proceeded through a small area of Rapid Valley. As the suspect vehicle was southbound on Jolly Lane, it ran a stop sign at the intersection with Twilight Drive. The suspect vehicle struck a pickup which was westbound on Twilight Drive.
Four occupants of the suspect vehicle, including Wright, and one occupant of the pickup truck were transported from the scene for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash.
The investigation into the incident has turned up no evidence of drugs or weapons located in the vehicle.
* The charges are merely accusations and the arrested individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Any additional details regarding this case can be obtained from the Pennington County State’s Attorney and/or court records as appropriate.