Police arrest driver following North Lawrence chase; loaded AR-15, more ammo found in car

Lawrence Police Department

After a brief police chase ended in a crash in North Lawrence, police said they found a loaded assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the suspect’s car.

The incident began about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday in the 300 block of Locust Street, where an officer pulled over a vehicle for a traffic violation, Officer Derrick Smith of the Lawrence Police Department said in an email to media.

According to Smith:

The driver gave the officer false information about his identity, but the officer was able to determine who he was and that he had active warrants. When the officer tried to “call the driver out of his vehicle,” the driver took off instead.

After a short pursuit, the suspect crashed his vehicle into a creek west of the Kansas Turnpike entrance in North Lawrence. The driver fled on foot and was caught in a field.

Police searched the vehicle and found an AR-15 rifle with 12 fully loaded magazines inside, as well as “several hundred rounds” of ammunition.

The suspect, who received minor injuries in the crash, was treated and released from the hospital before being booked into jail for his warrants. He also was booked on suspicion of driving without a license or insurance and several felonies from Tuesday morning’s incident: fleeing law enforcement, interference with law enforcement and criminal possession of a firearm by a felon.

According to jail records, the arrestee is Courtney E. Austin, 35, of Kansas City, Mo.

Austin made his first appearance in Douglas County District Court Tuesday afternoon on new felony charges, was appointed an attorney and scheduled to appear again on April 23, according to court records.

Austin does have past felony convictions in Douglas and Shawnee counties, including a 2015 conviction for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in Douglas County, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. According to KDOC, he absconded from parole in August 2017.