Police say Google Street View driver crashes following a high-speed chase at 100 mph

A man driving what appeared to be a Google Street View car got into a high-speed chase with police in western Indiana before driving through a yard and into a creek, according to local police.

Indiana’s Middletown Police Department reported the crash in a Monday
news release, posting a photo of the vehicle — emblazoned with “Google Street View” and adorned with a large upright video camera.

A Google spokesperson said the Mountain View-based tech giant relies on contractors to drive and collect imagery for Street View, the ubiquitous maps product that allows
users to explore roadsides around the world.

“We take the safety of our Street View operations very seriously,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to SFGATE, “and we’re committed to working with the contracted company and local authorities to ensure the proper actions are taken to address this situation.”

At 5 p.m. local time, an officer noticed a car zipping past other drivers near a high school, the police report says, and determined the vehicle was speeding at 100 mph.

The officer caught up with the car, but the driver continued to speed for several miles. Though the driver slowed down, he drove through a red light, the report says.

When the driver turned to avoid a closed bridge, “The Google vehicle lost control and drove through a yard and then into a creek where it became stuck,” the report says.

The police department used a Florida driver’s license to identify the driver, who “stated that he worked for Google and was scared to stop,” the news release said.

He was brought to a hospital and then jail, where he was arrested on suspicion of resisting law enforcement with a vehicle.

Whatever images the driver may have taken with the camera atop the vehicle amid the chase are not likely to go live — Google takes months to put up contributed Street View images, the company says on its
site, a process that includes blurring faces and checking for illegal behavior.

Hear of anything happening at Google? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.