Courtney Lynn Towry, 29, who is currently in custody at the Burleigh/Morton Detention Center in Bismarck on other charges, was sentenced on Tuesday in district court in Ward County to three years in prison, all suspended but the 10 days she already served in the Ward County Jail, and two years of supervised probation for fleeing law enforcement at speeds approaching up to 140 mph at times for 75 miles on U.S. Highway 83 South to Sheridan County Highway 53 South on March 14, driving through four different counties and seven cities and involving six separate law enforcement agencies.

Towry was also ordered to pay $1,100 in court costs on the Class C felony reckless endangerment charge.

According to court documents, law enforcement had set up spike strips at different points along the route, but Towry avoided them or drove over them without her tires deflating. At one point she was seen laughing as she backed away from the spike strips. She finally came to a stop on Highway 53 and put her hands up but refused to get out of the vehicle when deputies from Ward County, McLean County, Sheridan County, and the Highway Patrol all approached. She then tried to back up but a deputy from McLean County blocked her vehicle with a squad car. Ward County Deputy Nicholas Van Pelt approached and broke out her driver’s side window with his baton. Towry opened the door and Van Pelt grabbed her hand and placed her under arrest. Van Pelt wrote that Towry was crying and hysterical, admitted to drinking all day, but had a breath alcohol content of 0.052 percent, which is under the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Van Pelt told Towry she could have killed people. Towry admitted she had been emotionally distraught and told Van Pelt the officers had probably just saved her life.

In another case, Towry pleaded guilty in July in Morton County to child neglect and drug-related charges and was sentenced to 60 days time served and 18 months supervised probation.