By admin 
TOMBSTONE, AZ (AZFamily) — A botched traffic stop on a southern Arizona highway Friday spiraled into a rollover crash and foot chase, cracking open a stolen-car ring stretching into the Valley.
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It started when authorities tried to stop a reported stolen BMW X5 traveling eastbound on Highway 80 near Middlemarch Road, just north of Tombstone, according to the Tombstone Marshal’s Office.
The driver took off instead, leading officers on a chase into the city, where the vehicle rolled over twice and came to rest on its roof at Sumner and Safford streets.
Both the driver and a passenger scrambled out of the wreck and ran, authorities say. Officers grabbed the passenger right away; the driver turned up later, hiding behind a nearby Circle K.
While combing through the crash scene, investigators spotted another stolen vehicle from the same case sitting in that Circle K’s parking lot with a third person inside.
All three people were booked into the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office jail. Their names and ages haven’t been released, and it’s unclear if anyone else was arrested.
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Digging deeper, authorities linked five vehicles total to thefts from the Phoenix area. Three were recovered in Tombstone, one near Saint David and another near Tucson.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office helped investigate the crash, while the Tombstone Marshal’s Office, the sheriff’s office and Benson Police worked together to track down the other stolen vehicles.
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