Missoula Police were called out to help catch a suspected car thief late Sunday evening, May 20,  that ended up turning into a car chase. Missoula Police Public information officer Travis Welsh explains.

"Missoula Police officers became aware of a stolen vehicle report that had just been called-in to 911 from the 4700 block of Maritza court. An officer attempted to make a traffic stop at the intersection of Brooks and Reserve street, The vehicle turned northbound on Brooks from Reserve and, apparently when he became aware of the officer behind him, he quickly pulled into a parking lot."

The suspect, identified as 39-year-old Nathan Swain proceeded to try to flee officers through some erratic driving.

"He drove over curbs, attempting to shake the officer who was behind him, but when the officer followed, including going over the curbs, Swain jumped out of the car and attempted to flee on foot," Welsh said. "However a second officer had joined by that time and was also on foot and they managed to chase down Mr. Swain and take him into custody."

Swain was likely working so hard to flee officers because of his dark past, and he now has a felony for being an unregistered violent offender. Records show he was convicted of strangling his girlfriend twice in 2012. Swain also has a felony probation violation on his record, as well as a new charge for fleeing a peace officer. Interestingly, Swain is not charged with theft for the car, which was part of the initial call.

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