Driver claimed to be ‘time traveller’ after leading police on high-speed chase

A driver told a judge he thought he was a "time traveller" after stealing a car and leading police on a 40-mile high-speed pursuit.

Thomas W Lee in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, USA, claimed he needed to save his son from a corrupt government when he stole a car in a Hempfield shopping plaza, before driving down the Pennsylvania Turnpike last year.

The motorist said: “I stole a car because I was tired of walking. I thought I was a time traveller because I was on drugs. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. I was just trying to save my son.”

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Lee pleaded no contest to 24 charges including aggravated assault with a vehicle, drunken driving, fleeing police, resisting arrest and other traffic offences in connection with the incident in September last year.

Police said the 39-year-old stole a 2013 Nissan Altima after its occupant went to a local pizza shop.

According to court records, cops located the vehicle about two hours later and pursed it at speeds of more than 100mph.

At one point during the case he intentionally swerved into a police vehicle, according to court records.

The chase ended after Lee ran over a spike strip used by police to puncture the car’s tyres.

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Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio imposed terms of a negotiated deal that called for Lee to serve five to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Lee had no prior convictions in Pennsylvania but had a lengthy criminal record that included offences in six other states.

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