Man arrested in car chase

A car chase that began late Monday night ended this morning with an arrest near the Kansas Turnpike in rural Leavenworth County.

The man involved in the chase was taken into custody about 9:35 a.m. today by Leavenworth County Sheriff’s deputies and Kansas Highway Patrol troopers near the intersection of 206th Street and Woodend Road after apparently hiding in fields near the turnpike over night.

The chase began about 11:30 p.m. Monday in Eudora where the man led Eudora officers over the Kansas River into Leavenworth County.

The man then drove into Tonganoxie, where officers there pursued the man south from U.S. 24 Highway on 206th Street, eventually turning east onto Douglas Road.

But the car chase ended just before midnight when the man realized Douglas Road turns into mud about a half-mile east of the intersection, said Mike Vestal, a Tonganoxie dispatcher. The man then turned his car around in a driveway and drove back down Douglas Road, striking a police cruiser almost head-on.

The man then exited his car and led police on a foot chase over fences and into the fields surrounding the Kansas Turnpike. Police lost track of the man and the pursuit ended.

But this morning, state troopers spotted the man covered in mud walking along the fields near the turnpike. Kansas Highway Patrol dispatched a helicopter to watch the man as sheriff’s deputies arrived to arrest him.

It is unclear what the man was wanted for and his name could not yet be confirmed.