Driver arrested after high-speed chase

A 36-year-old rural Ottawa man was released from the Douglas County Jail on $5,000 bond Friday evening, hours after he took officers on a high-speed chase from Baldwin into northeastern Franklin County, police said.

Baldwin Police Chief Mike McKenna said Alan Keith had tried to avoid a drunken-driving arrest in Baldwin after 11 p.m. Thursday.

With Baldwin police and sheriff’s officers in Douglas and Franklin counties in pursuit, Keith swerved around one set of “Stop Sticks” in Franklin County before a second set punctured his tires at Nevada Road and Sandcreek Road, just west of Interstate 35 and northeast of Ottawa, in Franklin County.

After driving north on Nevada Road with flat tires, Keith turned east onto Reno Road, where he pulled over into a ditch, and officers arrested him about 11:50 p.m., McKenna said.

No one was injured, McKenna said.

Prosecutors in Douglas County charged Keith with drunken driving, eluding officers and possession of drug paraphernalia.