MEXICO, N.Y. -- Jason Niederer bought a car dash camera on sale in December and mounted the gadget in his vehicle.

On Friday evening, as Niederer was driving south on Interstate 81 in Oswego County to visit a friend in Hornell, his dash-cam caught a chase worthy of an episode of "Cops."

"It was definitely interesting," he said. "It was like TV."

Niederer noticed a couple of cops sitting parked in the median on I-81. Then he noticed two police vehicles that appeared to be blocking an exit. Two more vehicles came from behind. One stayed back while the other cruised ahead, Niederer said. They were not going very fast.

One police officer pulled over and Niederer said he glimpsed him taking spike strips from the trunk of his vehicle. A little later Niederer noticed a sedan coming down the highway.

"Some guy drove by the cops at an incredibly high rate of speed," he said.

Niederer said the sedan tried to pass a pickup truck, almost hit the truck and then went off the highway. The sedan then raced back onto the highway and appeared to hit one of the pursuing police vehicles.

Niederer did not learn the outcome of the chase until later.

The New York State Police charged 37-year-old Mark A. Sikes, of Liverpool, with leading police on a drunken chase on I-81.

About 5:15 p.m. Jefferson County 911 alerted officials in Oswego County that an erratic driver was heading south on Interstate 81. Trooper Todd Hall was using radar at a U-turn in the town of Mexico to check for speeding cars when he spotted a vehicle matching the description of the erratic vehicle.

Sikes ignored Hall and sped south on I-81, getting off the highway in Central Square, state police said.

Sikes stopped near the Walmart on county Route 12A, state police said, but hit the vehicle of an Oswego County sheriff's deputy before stopping. The deputy was not hurt. Sikes was arrested.

Sikes was charged with second and third-degree criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, unlawful fleeing a police officer, resisting arrest, and aggravated driving while intoxicated (blood alcohol content of 0.15 percent or higher).