‘Hot pursuit’ ends at dead end and foot chase ends with arrest

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of violating local drug laws last year was arrested by police two month ago. The man, Vani Saipale fled from police officers during a traffic stop, however, he was charged after being arrested for disturbing the public peace (PPD) at his village.  He was served with a copy of the arrest warrant from last year.

Saipale made his initial appearance in District Court.

Saipale is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine (meth); and one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance meth with intent to distribute; and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, all unclassified felonies; along with one count of PPD, a class B misdemeanor.

The court established bail at $20,000.

THE CASE

The government claims that on Dec. 7, 2020 at about 5:50p.m, two police officers who were patrolling the public highway on the west side received a radio transmission from another patrol car stating that they were in a hot pursuit of a vehicle that was heading to Leone. They responded to the call, leading to vehicles parked on a dirt road, including a truck with no license plates, which backed up onto the dirt road and almost struck the police unit.

The truck then sped away, heading straight to the back of the dirt road. One of the police units continued to pursue the vehicle until they reached a dead end. Three males were seen exiting the truck and fleeing on foot towards the bush.

The two police officers pursued the three males on foot and while searching for them police allegedly heard a male voice shouting out profanities. The voice was coming from an area nearby.

Police found two of the fleeing men inside a bushy area and apprehended them. During the pat down, officers discovered two cut up straws containing white crystalline substance and cash on one of the two suspects. He was Seti Amosa.

The other male individual that was with Amosa was later released by police. Nothing was found on him.

A search was conducted on the vehicle and one stamp size baggie containing a white crystalline substance and one marijuana joint was found.

The government claims that the vehicle was an old truck, no license plates and keys were not in the ignition, so the vehicle was left at the scene.

The two men that were found were transported to the Tafuna Police Station for questioning, where Amosa, (a co-defendant in this case) told police that everything that was discovered inside the vehicle belonged to the person who drove the vehicle, Vani Saipale, the defendant.

(Amosa was arrested and charged and his case is still pending in court)

According to the government, the co-defendant (Amosa) was in the passenger seat while Saipale was the driver of the vehicle. Amosa said that the drugs discovered by police when they apprehended him were given to him by Saipale as a gift.

The white crystalline substance inside the two cut up straws found in the co-defendant’s possession was tested and turned out positive for meth.

Drugs found in the truck were also tested with the white substance testing positive for meth, while the green substance tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active compound in the controlled substance marijuana.