Man admits to drinking case of beer before high-speed chase.

Bernabe Luevano with his attorney, Julie Springstead Waltz.

Man admits to drinking case of beer before high-speed chase.

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By Allison Scarbrough. Editor.

HART — A 24-year-old Shelby man testified in 27th Circuit Court Monday, Nov. 21, that he drank a case of beer and some liquor before leading police on a high-speed chase with a stolen minivan last September.

Bernabe Luevano, of 134 N. Michigan Ave., pleaded guilty to third-degree fleeing and eluding and operating while intoxicated. In exchange for his plea, one count of unlawful driving away of an automobile was dismissed, along with a second-offense designation for the OWI charge.

Luevano is currently serving a three to 20 year prison term for a Muskegon County conviction of first-degree home invasion at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, according to the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS). His sentence in Oceana County will run concurrently to the Muskegon County term, said Judge Anthony A. Monton.

Luevano testified that he was ordered to stop by an Oceana County sheriff’s deputy, Sept. 20, at 2 a.m. on 72nd Avenue in Hart Township. The patrol car’s lights were flashing and the siren was activated, but he ignored it, he said. “I ended up crashing,” he said. Luevano told Monton that he drank a “24 pack” of beer as well as liquor. His blood alcohol content was more than three and a half times the legal limit with a .295 reading.

Police said he stole a 2001 Dodge Caravan in the Village of Shelby; led police on a high-speed chase; and then crashed into a large stack of bushel crates after going off the road near West Scout Road.

Deputies found Luevano unconscious inside the minivan. He was hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries.

Sentencing is set for Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 9 a.m. Luevano was remanded to prison to await sentencing.