Johnson City Man Accused of Fleeing Police at 94 MPH

A Johnson City man is accused of speeding through the Prospect Mountain construction zone at 94 miles an hour while fleeing a Broome County Sheriff’s Deputy. The speed limit is posted at 45 miles per hour.

Authorities say the deputy saw a gray Hyundai Sante Fe traveling east on Route 17 in Johnson City shortly after 12 a.m. July 17 when a check of the license plate turned up that it was suspended and was supposed to be on another vehicle.

The Deputy tried to stop the vehicle but the driver accelerated, traveling through the Town of Dickinson and into the City of Binghamton on the highway and only slowed down a little bit on Kamikaze Curve.

The Deputy got ahead of the vehicle and deployed tire deflating stop-sticks at Exit 3 in Kirkwood.

Even after having a tire deflated, the vehicle continued on Route 17 East into the Town of Windsor.

Just before the Occanum exit, the vehicle swerved off the right shoulder into a deep, water-filled ditch and came to a stop.

31 year old William Haight Junior is charged with multiple counts of fleeing a police officer, aggravated unlicensed operation and reckless driving, over 40 vehicle and traffic violations in several municipal jurisdictions, speeding in a construction zone and failure to obey police orders.

Haight reportedly told authorities he tried to flee because he knew the car wasn’t legal and he thought there was a warrant out for him, which, actually, there wasn’t.

He was sent to the Broome County Jail on $2,000 bail.