Car stolen in S. Dakota leads police on chase from Newton to Park City before crash
A 17-year-old boy wanted in Minnesota and driving in a car stolen from South Dakota led Kansas police on a multi-county chase Thursday. He is accused of crashing into a police car twice before the chase ended when a trooper rammed the suspect’s car, a Newton spokeswoman said.
A couple of Newton officers had minor injuries from the incident. The boy wasn’t injured.
Around 10:19 a.m. Thursday, Newton police responded to a report of a suspicious person in a car at Chisholm Trail Shopping Center, Newton Director of Communications Erin McDaniel said in a news release.
The teen took off when the first officer arrived, “intentionally striking the officer’s car on the way out of the parking lot,” she said.
The suspect went north on Kansas Avenue, onto U.S. 50 and then back south on Kansas Avenue. Sedgwick County law enforcement became involved with the chase when the car crossed the county line.
“At 85th Street North, the driver intentionally swerved and tried to strike a Valley Center Police car,” she said. “The chase continued for a short time on residential streets in Valley Center, where the suspect again struck the same Newton Police car, disabling it, before entering I-135 southbound. The suspect’s car had slowed considerably because of a flat tire but continued to flee.”
Just north of the 61st Street North exit, the Kansas Highway Patrol successfully rammed the suspect vehicle, turning it sideways and ending the chase, she said.
The teen was taken back to Newton.
“Police continue to investigate what other crimes the suspect may have committed between the time the car was stolen and when he was arrested,” she said.
He faces several charges, including two counts of aggravated battery on an officer, four counts of aggravated assault on an officer, flee and elude while reckless driving, flee and elude by avoiding a tire deflation device, traffic violations as well as possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and being a minor in possession of alcohol, according to the Newton news release.
