NORTH VERNON, Ind. (AP): Police in southern Indiana say it was fortunate that a tank of anhydrous ammonia hidden in a car trunk didn't rupture when the driver crashed while feeling officers.

Jennings County sheriff's Maj. Jerry Shepherd says the 44-year-old driver faces felony charges of illegal possession of anhydrous ammonia and resisting arrest from the chase.

Shepherd says that deputies didn't suspect the hidden tank when they tried to pull the man over on Friday that his car was carrying a tank of the farm fertilizer often used to make methamphetamine. The chase lasted about a mile along rural roads outside North Vernon before the crash.

Shepherd says a rupture of the tank would've caused a serious health threat in the area.