U.S- Police: Soldier escaped military custody, vanished after chase

Police: Soldier escaped military custody, vanished after chase

State police in central New York are looking for a U.S. soldier who they say escaped military custody at Fort Drum, stole his parents' car and led police on a four-county chase.

Pfc. Russell Marcum, 20, of Morgantown, West Virginia, is considered armed and dangerous, state police said.

Marcum, who was in "unit custody" on the base after being arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of burglary, eluded officials on base Thursday night, got into an altercation with a fellow soldier and stole his parents’ 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche, state Trooper Jack Keller said.

He drove away from the area and led police on a chase, Keller said. The car eventually went over stop sticks that police had deployed in rural Otsego County, and Marcum lost control of the vehicle, according to Keller.