IRON MOUNTAIN — An Iowa man is in custody after reportedly spraying a hotel clerk with Mace when she asked him to don a face mask, then leading police on a slow-speed chase north on U.S. 2, public safety officials said.

The Iron Mountain Police Department received a report at 4:25 p.m. Friday that the clerk at the Comfort Inn had been assaulted with Mace, with the man still sitting in his vehicle in the hotel parking lot, according to a news release by Ed Mattson, director of the Iron Mountain Police and Fire Departments.

As officers approached the vehicle, the man appeared to be holding a handgun. He was told to drop the weapon and get out of the vehicle but instead drove out of the lot headed north on U.S. 2.

The slow-speed pursuit ended near the area of Riverside Auto, N3696 U.S. 2, after the Michigan State Police deployed “spike strips.” The man threw the weapon, later determined to be a BB gun, out of the vehicle onto the roadway while being chased.

The 41-year-old man is in the Dickinson County Correctional Center in Iron Mountain pending formal charges by Dickinson County Prosecutor Lisa Richards, Mattson stated in the release.

No further information, including the man’s name, was provided.

In addition to the MSP, Iron Mountain Police were assisted by the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Department as well as Kingsford Public Safety.