BATON ROUGE - A man was arrested on myriad charges Friday after driving erratically and leading a high-speed chase with drugs and a gun inside his vehicle.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said they tried to initiate a traffic stop Friday after they noticed Markies Thomas, 19, wasn't wearing a seatbelt and wasn't using his blinker while turning onto Lobdell Boulevard from Choctaw Drive.

Deputies said when they turned on their lights and siren, Thomas sped away, driving recklessly "through an apartment complex with no due regard to anyone else's safety inside."

Thomas drove through the complex to Lobwood Drive, speeding and turning onto Wooddale Boulevard and Tom Drive. Upon reaching the end of Tom Drive, Thomas lost control of his vehicle and almost hit another car that had to swerve out of the way, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies said Thomas proceeded to strike a DOTD traffic control signal box and crash into a light pole. Thomas then exited the crashed vehicle, and the chase continued on foot.

While running away, deputies saw Thomas throw a bag of suspected marijuana into the woods. Investigators later recovered the approximately 29.3 grams of the drug from a nearby tree.

Thomas was eventually apprehended when he fell down in the middle of Lobdell Boulevard. Authorities found fentanyl powder, crushed fentanyl pills and a digital pocket scale on Thomas' person. They also discovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun on the floor of his vehicle.

The sheriff's office said Thomas was brought to a hospital for treatment of crash injuries and was later booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. He faces the following charges:

• failure to signal/improper turn
• reckless operation of a vehicle
• seatbelt violation
• aggravated flight from an officer
• aggravated criminal damage to property
• illegal carrying of weapons with drugs
• possession of schedule I drugs
• possessions of schedule II drugs
• possession of drug paraphernalia
• failure to stop at stop signs/yield signs