A high-speed escape by a young man in Worcester ended with an arrest and the recovery of a large capacity firearm, the city's police department said Wednesday. Twenty-year-old Joshua Santos now faces multiple charges after a sequence of events that led Worcester detectives to deploy their Crime Gun Intelligence Unit in pursuit.

On Tuesday night, Worcester officers spotted a vehicle skipping a full stop at an intersection. After the driver floored it through Endicott and Vernon streets, nearly causing an accident, cops lit up their squad cars in an attempt to pull the vehicle over. Santos, behind the wheel, made a dash for it instead, sparking a chase that the detectives decided was too risky to continue in a residential neighborhood, police said.

Providence Street soon bore witness to a crash, with Santos spotted sprinting from the scene. The police eventually caught up to him, leading to his arrest for a stop sign violation, leaving the scene of an accident, operating to endanger, and failing to stop for the police.

As detectives combed through the area with the aid of their Real Time Crime Center's video feed, a police K9 was enlisted for a secondary search. Near where the careening vehicle had traveled, a large capacity firearm was dug up, adding a murky depth to what might have been a simple traffic violation gone awry. The investigation remains active, probing the origins and intended use of the weapon recovered, according to authorities.

Santos was booked into the station where he awaited further processing as the crime scene was further dismantled by law enforcement, piecing together the puzzle of actions leading up to the firearm's discovery.