A man who led Arizona police on an hour-long high-speed chase which ended in a dramatic head-on collision has “mental health issues,” his lawyer claims.
Mitchell Taebel, 31, an aspiring actor and would-be revolutionary, refused to stop when an Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) sergeant tried to pull him over for speeding. He drove at high speed for an hour before colliding with an oncoming car. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured.
High-Speed Chase, Head-On Crash
The affair began around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 24. Taebel was driving on State Route 85 when the officer signaled him to pull over. Instead, the Los Angeles resident increased his speed, up to 115 mph at times.
While fleeing the police, Taebel called 911 and told the operator he was being illegally pursued and had a right to flee.
“They attempted to make a stop without probable cause or reasonable suspicion,” Mitchell Taebel said, according to NBC-12 News. “I called 911.”
Taebel claimed to be a “sovereign citizen” who, according to the political movement of the same name, is not bound by the laws of the United States and claimed that officers had no probable cause to stop him. He, therefore, had no obligation to stop.
As Taebel headed toward Interstate 10, troopers tried to disable his red SUV using tire-puncturing spike sticks, but Taebel was able to swerve around them. He then headed east out of Phoenix.
DPS assigned a helicopter to track Taebel’s vehicle. The chopper reported that the red SUV eventually left the highway at the Scottsdale Road exit in Tempe, about ten miles southeast of downtown Phoenix.
As the traffic got denser, Taebel started to weave his SUV between cars.
Police tried to box him in and force him off the road, but Taebel was able to evade them. “The suspect veered to the right and rammed one of our patrol cars, and then continued southbound at a high rate of speed,” DPS Trooper Kameron Lee told NBC12.
Finding too much traffic ahead of him, Taebel decided to plunge into oncoming traffic.
Within seconds, Taebel sideswiped a white SUV, then moments later careened into a black SUV, half crushing it while his own vehicle exploded into a ball of smoke.
Taebel’s SUV flipped, rolled, and bounced down the road, eventually coming to a stop facing the wrong way. Amazingly, Taebel got out, apparently unharmed. When police arrived, bystanders pointed him out as the offender.
The driver of the black SUV, a 47-year-old woman, was transported to the hospital with injuries which were described as “non-life-threatening,” by the Daily Mail.
Taebel was taken for medical treatment and then to 4th Avenue Jail.
Bound by No Laws But His Own
Taebel, along with being an aspiring actor, is also an anti-government activist, according to NBC, and ascribes to the “sovereign citizen” doctrine—a belief that a specific reading of the Constitution and certain laws justifies a person to declare himself a “sovereign citizen” not bound by Federal Law—though believers claim the idea is legal, and cite federal law to support their claims.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, a “sovereign citizen” is described as follows:
“The “sovereign citizen” movement is a loosely organized collection of groups and individuals who have adopted a right-wing anarchist ideology originating in the theories of a group called the Posse Comitatus in the 1970s. Its adherents believe that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and they seek to “restore” an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed. To this end, sovereign citizens wage war against the government and other forms of authority using “paper terrorism” harassment and intimidation tactics, and occasionally resorting to violence.”
He also told police that he had the right to drive at excessive speed through a busy city, drive into oncoming traffic, and drive head-on into a stranger. Taebel did not cite which codes or laws justified those actions.
Police Can—and Should—Be Killed, Taebel Tells Judge
Mitchell Taebel was arraigned by video from jail on Jan. 25. He was charged with multiple offenses including one count of aggravated assault causing serious physical injury, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of endangerment, and one count each of unlawful flight, reckless driving, and speeding in excess of 85 mph.
The judge ordered $400,000 bail—cash only.
During the hearing, Taebel told the judge that he was not bound by federal law and could, in fact, use deadly force against any officer who tried to apprehend him. He then cited a Federal law which he claimed upheld his position.
The judge showed great patience, letting Taebel explain his political views even though it was supposed to be a simply arraignment, and did not flinch even when Taebel said he had the legal right to kill officers if they attempted to arrest him against his will.
Taebel said that he had the legal right to resist what he called “unlawful arrest.”
“The officers can be killed under USC section 242, I just want to put that on the record—and should be, in my opinion,” he told the judge.
Taebel’s attorney, Brian Russo, later said that the man had been “previously diagnosed with some mental health issues.”
Taebel has had plenty of opportunities to learn about the justice system—both criminal and civil. He has been arrested on both felony and misdemeanor charges in at least two states—New York and Florida.
“Our suspect does have an extensive criminal history of both violent felony convictions and misdemeanor convictions in several states,” DPS trooper Lee told NBC12.
Taebell is also involved in several lawsuits. In one, he is suing an apartment complex in Arizona for rejecting his application. In that case, he is seeking $500 million, according to NBC12.
In another case, he is claiming $250 million from the City of Los Angeles for allegedly being arrested without probable cause.
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