Police catch escapee in sheriff’s car

? Junction City Police caught a Missouri prisoner who was trying to make a getaway in a stolen sheriff’s car with the emergency lights flashing.

The inmate escaped from a jail in Bates County, Mo., and stole a Bates County Sheriff’s vehicle. Authorities didn’t immediately identify the inmate or release details of his escape.

The Kansas Highway Patrol had put out a bulletin Friday morning that the car was westbound on Interstate 70.

About 10 a.m. Friday, Officer Jim Oehm with the Junction City Canine Unit was patrolling in the area and spotted the vehicle on I-70 near milepost 303. Oehm and a patrol officer then gave chase.

The suspect got off the highway at the Grandview exit and went through town along Sixth Street, Junction City Police Chief Bob Story said.

“Somewhere during the course of the chase, the suspect managed to turn on the overhead emergency lights of the patrol car,” Story said.

The suspect got out of the car and fled through a wooded area behind some apartments. He was caught after a chase.