MOORHEAD, Minn. – The two men accused of leading police on a high-speed chase Sunday that ended when they became stuck in a Clay County swamp with homemade explosives in the car are from Hillsboro, N.D.
According to court documents filed Tuesday in Clay County District Court, a Glyndon police officer on patrol at about 12:23 a.m. Sunday noticed a pickup in the Petro Gas Station parking lot that was registered to a driver with a suspended license.
When he approached the 2005 GMC Sierra, it sped off, court documents state, zipping first into a closed lot belonging to a potato warehouse and then into the city of Glyndon.
With the Glyndon officer in pursuit, the truck went through Glyndon’s mobile home park, onto Highway 10 and through the city of Sabin, roaring along at more than 100 mph.
Several gravel roads and a Clay County field later, the pickup became stuck in a swamp.
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Three people were inside the vehicle when officers approached. There were two homemade bombs in the front passenger area, wrapped in electrical tape with a wick coming out the top, court documents state.
A woman told police she screamed at the driver to stop when the chase started. The driver, Jordon Phillip Overmyer, 23, told police he saw the lights behind him but that the other man, Gene Oscar Wilkie, 39, told him to keep going because of his warrants.
Wilkie and Overmyer were charged with one count each of possession of an explosive device, and one count of aiding and abetting possession of an explosive device, both felonies.
Overmyer is also charged with one count of felony fleeing and Wilkie is charged with abetting a person fleeing, also felonies.
The woman was not charged.
Wilkie’s next court appearance is set for Feb. 2 and Overmyer for Feb. 17.
The two explosive devices were destroyed Tuesday in north Moorhead by a regional bomb squad.
