{"id":912,"date":"2025-12-08T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=912"},"modified":"2025-12-07T10:00:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:00:56","slug":"clay-county-man-charged-after-moorhead-fleeing-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/clay-county-man-charged-after-moorhead-fleeing-chase\/","title":{"rendered":"Clay County: Man Charged After Moorhead Fleeing Chase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Clay County\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(trfnews.i234.me)\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 A Belcourt, North Dakota, man is now charged after a cross-border chase that ended in Moorhead, Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>According to a criminal complaint, the case started with a traffic stop in Fargo on November 27.<br \/>\nOfficers tried to stop a vehicle driven by <strong>Clayton Gourneau Jr.<\/strong>, of Belcourt, North Dakota.<br \/>\nCourt documents say he did not remain at the scene.<br \/>\nInstead, the vehicle pulled away and headed toward the Minnesota state line.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators say the vehicle entered Moorhead soon after the attempted stop.<br \/>\nThe complaint states that officers chose to continue the pursuit into Clay County.<br \/>\nBecause of the risk to the public, they requested tools to end the chase safely.<br \/>\nAnother unit placed tire deflation devices, often called stop sticks, on the roadway.<\/p>\n<p>Court records say the fleeing vehicle drove over the stop sticks.<br \/>\nThe devices punctured the tires and slowed the car.<br \/>\nThe complaint says the vehicle then came to a stop in Moorhead.<br \/>\nHowever, the driver did not stay with the car.<\/p>\n<p>According to the complaint, Gourneau left the vehicle and ran on foot.<br \/>\nOfficers began a search in the neighborhood near where the pursuit ended.<br \/>\nThey checked yards, alleys, and nearby homes.<br \/>\nCourt documents say they soon found Gourneau hiding in the yard of a residence.<br \/>\nHe was then taken into custody without further incident.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Mugshot centered in the middle of story --><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center; margin: 24px 0;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Clayton-Gourneau-Jr.png\" alt=\"Mugshot of Clayton Gourneau Jr., charged in Clay County fleeing case\" \/><em>Clayton Gourneau Jr. is accused of fleeing a traffic stop that began in Fargo and ended in Moorhead.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Prosecutors in Clay County have now charged Clayton Gourneau Jr. with felony fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.<br \/>\nMore details on Minnesota fleeing laws can be found on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/statutes\/cite\/609.487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota state statute website<\/a>.<br \/>\nThe complaint does not list any injuries from the chase.<br \/>\nIt does not say that any other vehicles were hit.<\/p>\n<p>The case will move forward in Clay County District Court.<br \/>\nFuture hearings and case updates will be posted on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota trial court public access site<\/a>.<br \/>\nDrivers are reminded that failing to stop for officers can quickly lead to felony charges.<br \/>\nInformation on Minnesota traffic and safety rules is also available through the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dps.mn.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Minnesota Department of Public Safety<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At this stage, Clayton Gourneau Jr. is presumed innocent.<br \/>\nHe remains innocent unless and until he is found guilty in court.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clay County\u00a0(trfnews.i234.me)\u00a0\u2013 A Belcourt, North Dakota, man is now charged after a cross-border chase that ended in Moorhead, Minnesota. According to a criminal complaint, the case started with a traffic stop in Fargo on November 27. Officers tried to stop a vehicle driven by Clayton Gourneau Jr., of Belcourt, North Dakota. Court documents say he&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/clay-county-man-charged-after-moorhead-fleeing-chase\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Clay County: Man Charged After Moorhead Fleeing Chase<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[346,1573,770,2055,1149,1576,1570,1572,768,772,1574,2054,1569,151,1577,1346,1571,1575,786],"class_list":["post-912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-after","tag-belcourt-north-dakota-man-charged","tag-charged","tag-chase","tag-clay","tag-clay-county-court-case","tag-clay-county-fleeing-charge","tag-clayton-gourneau-jr","tag-county","tag-crime","tag-fargo-traffic-stop-pursuit","tag-fleeing","tag-fleeing-in-moorhead-charge","tag-man","tag-minnesota-fleeing-in-a-motor-vehicle","tag-moorhead","tag-moorhead-minnesota-chase","tag-moorhead-stop-sticks","tag-trf-news","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}