Maryland man recently released from jail allegedly steals 5-ton military vehicle and leads police on a highway chase

A Maryland man just released from jail stole a 5-ton military vehicle and led police on a highway chase Friday, Harford County authorities said.

At around 6:35 p.m., deputies with the sheriff’s office responded to a home in the town of Bel Air for a report of a stolen 1986 923-A 5-ton military vehicle, a sheriff’s statement said. The vehicle was privately owned.

The suspect, whom authorities identified as Michael D. Stevens II, 38, of Abingdon, drove through Bel Air and onto Interstate 95. Deputies pursued him down the interstate, trying to use stop sticks to disable the vehicle to no avail, they said.

The man drove into Baltimore City, where he stopped on Conkling Street, got out of the vehicle and tried to flee, the news release said. Deputies were then able to apprehend him safely, it said.

No one was injured, but the man crashed into multiple vehicles during the chase, the sheriff’s office said.

Stevens was charged with motor vehicle theft, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and failing to obey a lawful order. He was taken back Friday evening to the Harford County Detention Center, from which he had just been released earlier in the day, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office did not clarify when exactly Stevens had been released before Friday’s incident.

Stevens appeared in court Friday and was ordered held without bond, according to online records. He will have a bail review in front of a judge early this week, a spokesperson for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office said.

Stevens’ attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.