Wailing sirens pierced the air on the night of Monday, Sep. 22, as a high-speed car chase intersected campus. Walla Walla Police began their pursuit at about 9:20 p.m., after an officer spotted the vehicle in question driving recklessly around a parking lot and then merging onto the street, where the driver sped through stop signs and ignored instructions to pull over.

Another patrol car joined in the effort to apprehend the driver as police pursued the vehicle from around Rose Street and Woodland Avenue to the intersection of Isaacs Avenue and Clinton Street northeast of campus.

The outcome of the chase was even more unexpected. According to a report by the Walla Walla Union Bulletin, officers called off their pursuit of the suspect after attempts to block traffic at the intersection of Isaacs Avenue and Clinton Street resulted in the collision of a patrol car with another oncoming vehicle.

Police Sgt. Matt Wood told the Union-Bulletin that the car chase lasted about twenty minutes and ended with the suspect evading custody. During that time, Whitman students housed all across campus, from the corner of Isaacs and Stanton to the Mill Creek Bridge, reported hearing sirens or seeing the cars pass.

“I was sitting in the living room doing homework when I heard a bunch of sirens,” said sophomore Ari Frink, a resident of the Writing House. “Then I saw a white car speed by and three cops chasing it down Otis Street. There were three of them but they couldn’t catch him.”

The Walla Walla Police Department suspended the chase due to safety concerns after the patrol car that was trying to clear the intersection hit another car.