High-speed, multi-county chase ends with crash, driver in custody

Two people are in custody after a multi-county high-speed chase this morning throughout several Central Alabama counties.

Steven Garner, 43, and Dana Morales, 50, both of Jasper were taken into custody after Garner led Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Highway Patrol Division investigators and other law enforcement officers on a chase in a vehicle that had been reported stolen.

The chase began in Cullman County, where the Cullman County Sheriff’s Department and ALEA troopers were attempting to stop the vehicle on Interstate 65 South.

Instead, Garner led authorities on a high-speed chase on I-65 through Cullman, Blount and Jefferson counties until he took an exit onto U.S. Highway 31 in Hoover. Garner then traveled through Hoover and Vestavia city limits until he smashed into a drainage culvert on U.S. 31.

After the crash, Garner and Morales were taken into custody without further incident.