A man was arrested Monday morning following an almost half-an-hour pursuit in which he refused to pull over for county deputies.

The suspect took officers along numerous county roads, but coordination between police and dispatchers led to a safe ending without any reported injuries.

At around 3:45 a.m., a Muskingum County deputy was helping patrol the Village of Roseville when he noticed a suspicious vehicle with temporary plates.

As the deputy began to follow the vehicle, he observed its driver make multiple traffic infractions, and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.

The driver, whose name is not being released until charges are officially filed, refused to pull over for the deputy and a pursuit was initiated.

According to Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz, the pursuit lasted for roughly 20 to 25 miles on mostly county road, with speeds never exceeding 55 miles per hour.

Along with coordination between county dispatchers and an additional road deputy, a spike strip was able to be laid, which ultimately helped put an end to the pursuit.

After realizing his tires were made inoperative, the driver was forced to end the chase and chose not to run from his vehicle.

He was arrested without incident, with the only recorded damage during the pursuit being to the suspect’s car tires.

The man was found to not have a valid driver’s license, which is believed to be the reason for the driver’s unwillingness to initially pull over.

Lutz credited the dispatchers for doing a “phenomenal job,” in assisting the deputies in apprehending the suspect.

“Almost all of them (dispatchers) are local who grew up in Muskingum County,” said Lutz. “It just so happened that the dispatcher working last night knew the Newtown Township/Roseville Area quite well and was able to do a great job at providing information to deputies and provide them with options to stop him.”

Scanner traffic of the pursuit made evident Lutz’s comments, using the patrol cars location, the dispatcher could be heard relaying location updates from the chase deputy to other units giving necessary time to deploy spike strips which ended the chase without a collision or forcing deputies to utilize their vehicles to stop the suspect.

Lutz said the great coordination between everyone involved helped ensure a safe peaceful end to Monday morning’s chase.

From when he first became Sheriff over 12 years ago, Lutz said he worked to implement more proactive traffic stops, targeting vehicles with speed violations or expired plates, to better protect the law-abiding public.

Citing Monday morning’s chase, Lutz made reference to the yet-identified suspect, who was driving around the county without a valid license and likely without insurance.

“Anytime somebody flees from police, it’s really putting our community at risk,” said Lutz. “He chose to place innocent bystanders in danger as they got ready to leave for work.”

According to Lutz, it’s often those types of drivers who end up causing problems for citizens who are driving safely and obeying the law.

The sheriff also wanted to let would-be criminals know that in nearly 70 to 90 percent of their chases, the charges from fleeing often end up being far worse than if the individual had just pulled over and accepted responsibility for their traffic infraction.

“Hopefully moving forward people think about that,” said Lutz. “Nobody wants to partake in pursuits, but they become a necessary evil when a suspect flees.”