A man who led authorities with the Mississippi Highway Patrol on a high speed chase in Lauderdale County Monday has been identified as 18-year-old Matthew D. Wellman from Kansas.

    Mississippi Highway Patrolman Sgt. Andy West said the driver of the vehicle exceeded 140 mph before wrecking near Lizelia Road in Marion.

    West said the vehicle Wellman was driving, a 2009 Jaguar, was reported stolen out of Kansas.

    “We had a trooper that was working Highway 45 North of Marion when he observed the vehicle traveling south,” West said. “The trooper tried to stop him, but he refused to stop, and continued a few miles south of Marion before losing control of the vehicle, and ran off the road.

    “He then got out of the vehicle and fled on foot and attempted to get into a home before he was captured two hours later.”

    West said Wellman has been charged by the MHP with numerous traffic violations, including failure to yield to blue lights, felony fleeing and reckless driving. West said Wellman also other warrants for his arrest out of Kansas.

    Wellman is in custody in the Lauderdale County Detention Center.