Vermillion residents are on the lookout for a suspect who fled officers early this morning.
Vermillion Police Chief Matt Betzen says officers were on routine patrol when they ran the plates of a car that turned out to be stolen from Rapid City. When the officers tried to stop the vehicle, it sped away and crashed into an unoccupied building on the 800 block of East Cherry Street. Betzen says when the officers approached the vehicle, the driver was gone. Working in connection with the Rapid City Police Department, Betzen says they believe Michael Alford is the suspect, as he is connected to the stolen car. But he says Vermillion officers didn’t see the suspect.
“He’s a person of interest in the events from last night. While we’re concerned about people fleeing from police, we don’t have any particular information that would indicate he’s any more dangerous than anyone else who would do that. We really just want to talk to him about last night’s events,” Betzen says.
Betzen says Alford does have criminal history and was recently released from prison. He says there’s a good chance Alford is still in the Vermillion area since he’s now without a car. Alford is about 6 feet tall, 190 pounds, and has tattoos on his neck and teardrop tattoos falling from one eye.