The Barron County Sheriff's Department arrested Larry Szewcik after the chase.
Deputies say the chase Sunday night started after a report of a gas drive-off at a Kwik Trip in Rice Lake. Deputies say the van described at the scene was reported stolen from Douglas County. A Cameron police officer later spotted the vehicle and tried to stop it but the driver took off. The van was eventually stopped after eight miles and three sets of stop sticks.
The sheriff says a Rice Lake officer was helping put out the spikes when the cord severely injured his hand.
Deputies say he had tendon and nerve damage to a finger and needed immediate attention so he was flown to Regions Hospital.
UPDATE: 29-year-old Rice Lake police officer Andrew Jondreau was hurt. It happened when the rope on a set of stop spikes, thrown out to puncture tires and stop the driver, got wrapped around his finger and the spike stuck to the car. He says it pulled him off his feet and severely damaged his right middle finger. Jondreau says it was a freak accident that could have been worse, but he's having his finger amputated.
He says, "they said there's a fifty-fifty chance of it being useful and I kinda made the decision on the way to the hospital in the chopper there's a chance of it coming off and I have to accept that."