KIMBALL -- A North Platte woman appeared in Kimball County District Court Tuesday afternoon where she pled not guilty to 10 varying degrees of charges. 

Thirty-three-year-old Maryelena Clark was arrested on July 24 after she allegedly led law enforcement on a high-speed chase starting in Pine Bluffs and ending safely in Kimball County. 

Clark has been charged with Class 4 Felony flight to avoid arrest, Class 3 Misdemeanors willful reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle without a proper license, and six traffic infractions including speeding, running a stop sign, following too close in traffic, driving on the shoulder of a highway, operating a vehicle with improper tires, as well as two more infractions for possession of drug paraphernalia and marijuana of less than an ounce. 

According to the police affidavit, the pursuit began in Pine Bluffs where an officer attempted to stop a gray sedan for speeding, after which the driver started traveling eastbound into Nebraska. 

A Nebraska State Trooper took up the pursuit when he observed a vehicle that matched the description on I-80 near mile marker 13. The driver exited at mile marker 22 in Kimball, which according to the affidavit, the driver violated the stop sign at the end of the offramp before re-entering the Interstate going westbound. 

The affidavit stated that during the incident, the driver drove on the shoulder to pass a vehicle and was following other vehicles at a close distance. 

“The vehicle reached top speed of 126 MPH with moderate traffic on the roadway,” the affidavit continued. 

The Kimball County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the pursuit by deploying a tire deflation device at about mile marker 18, and when the vehicle attempted to avoid it, the driver lost control and landed in the north ditch. 

The driver was later identified as Marylena Clark, and later discovered she did not have a valid driver’s license.  

The affidavit stated, “Clark advised there was possibly marijuana in the vehicle, which was searched and less than an ounce of marijuana and drug paraphernalia was located and was claimed by Clark.” 

Clark’s next court appearance is October 3.