photo by: Kim Callahan

A police chase on North Second Street on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, ended in a fiery motorcycle crash.

A man accused of causing a crash that seriously injured a woman while fleeing from police on a motorcycle took a plea agreement on Wednesday in Douglas County District Court and could be sentenced to nearly two years in prison.

Dillon Paul Herken, 26, of Easton, pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated battery, a felony, and had four other charges dropped: flee and elude, theft of a motorcycle, unlawful vehicle registration and operating a motor vehicle without the proper license.

As the Journal-World has reported, the fiery crash occurred in North Lawrence on Feb. 27. Herken was accused of fleeing from a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper and then crashing into the back of a Jeep Compass on North Second Street. Both Herken and his female passenger were thrown from the motorcycle, which caught fire, and later were taken to Stormont Vail hospital in Topeka.

Senior Assistant District Attorney James Carpenter said Wednesday that the passenger’s injuries were severe and that she was “unresponsive” after being thrown from the motorcycle.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Dillon Paul Herken

Herken was represented in this case by attorney Angelo Panas.

Herken has had numerous run-ins with the law in Douglas, Leavenworth and Atchison counties before, including convictions for theft, identity theft, violations of drug and gun laws and various driving infractions. On the day of the crash, court records indicated that Herken was due to appear, but did not show, in Douglas County District Court 15 minutes before the crash occurred in relation to a misdemeanor stalking charge.

On Wednesday, Judge Sally Pokorny also noted that Herken was recently sentenced in a separate case in Leavenworth County.

Court records show that Herken took a plea deal there on June 18, in which he was convicted of possession of methamphetamine and vehicular burglary; charges of possession of a weapon by a felon and felony theft were dropped. On Aug. 1, Herken was sentenced in the Leavenworth County case to a total of 30 months in prison: 20 months for possession of methamphetamine and 10 months for vehicular burglary, to run consecutively.

Pokorny scheduled Herken to be sentenced for the aggravated battery conviction on Oct. 3 and said that based on his criminal history, he could receive between 19 and 23 months in prison. Any sentence would run consecutively with Herken’s sentences in Leavenworth County, Carpenter said.