Pine Island Man Arrested After 100 MPH Chase Sentenced to Jail

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Pine Island man has been handed a jail sentence for a DWI conviction connected to a high-speed chase earlier this year.

According to the criminal complaint filed against 47-year-old Joseph Rabe, he was arrested on the night of March 9 after the SUV he was driving crashed near the federal prison in southeast Rochester. The court document says an Olmsted County deputy witnessed Rabe speed through a red light at the intersection of College View Road and East Circle Drive before his SUV went airborne and crashed at the roundabout at the entrance to the Olmsted County campus.

The charges stated that the deputy had just broken off his pursuit of Rabe because of his extreme high rate of speed as he was traveling toward Rochester. The deputy indicated he began chasing Rabe moments earlier after observing his SUV traveling west on College View Road near 70th Avenue Northeast at 106 mph in a 55 mph zone.

The criminal complaint says the deputy spotted Rabe running away from his vehicle after the crash and found him hiding under some trees next to one of the buildings on the county campus. The deputy indicated he detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from Rabe and a preliminary breath test measured his blood-alcohol-concentration at more than .17.

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Rabe was charged with a felony count of fleeing police and misdemeanor DWI. He entered a guilty plea this week to the drunk driving offenses and the felony charge was dismissed.

Rabe has been ordered to serve nearly 3 months in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center and has been placed on supervised probation for one year.