BELLINGHAM - A Bellingham man was arrested after he crashed a Ford Mustang on Mount Baker Highway, flipping the car on its roof and injuring himself and the passenger early Monday, Nov. 5.

Shawn Eric Linn Sivo, 30, was driving a 1994 Mustang westbound at 7 a.m. in the Rome area when a trooper's radar gun clocked him at 80 mph, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary.

The trooper, who was stationed there because of other recent complaints of speeding drivers, started her pursuit. From a distance she saw him swerving into the eastbound lane, possibly trying to pass another car, Leary said.

Just as the trooper was catching up, the Mustang driver tried to pass a car at Squalicum Lake Road. Sivo lost control and crashed, possibly because of an oncoming semi.

The Mustang rolled and came to rest on its roof. Sivo was bleeding from his head. His passenger, Lynden resident Allison M. Spencer, 36, also had a head injury. Both were taken by ambulance to St. Joseph hospital.

A trooper smelled alcohol in the car, Leary said, but Sivo won't be charged with driving under the influence unless a blood test shows he was drunk. Sivo's driver's license was suspended, according to state patrol.

"So he shouldn't have been driving anyway," Leary said. "Thank God (the passenger) was wearing a seat belt."

Sivo was not. But he was in good enough shape to be booked into jail just after noon. He's accused of vehicular assault.

He has a long history of crimes involving vehicles. Sivo once led police on a high-speed motorcycle chase before crashing as he went over the railroad tracks on Loomis Trail Road. That chase started when he almost swerved into a patrol car head-on while erratically passing other drivers.

Court records show he's also stolen cars and driven without a valid license several times before.

In 2010, he was hospitalized in serious condition after crashing his motorbike in Ferndale. He hit a car in front of him as it slowed to make a left toward a retirement home, police said at the time. The other driver had minor injuries.

Reach CALEB HUTTON at caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2276.