photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Tyrone “Ty” Leroy Alexander

A Baldwin City man was sentenced Wednesday to 17 months in prison in connection with a vehicle chase in Douglas County.

The man, Tyrone Leroy Alexander, 48, was originally charged with aggravated assault and fleeing from law enforcement in connection with a chase on Dec. 29. In March, he pleaded no contest to the felony charge of fleeing from law enforcement as part of a plea agreement, and the state dropped the aggravated assault charge, according to court records.

As the Journal-World previously reported, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said that Alexander originally had warrants out for his arrest for alleged probation violations, and that deputies were trying to take him into custody in December when he fled in a pickup truck. A news release from the sheriff’s office said that Alexander led deputies and police officers on a pursuit on Haskell Avenue, 19th Street, 23rd Street and Kasold Drive, and that law enforcement wasn’t able to take him into custody.

On March 1, Alexander was arrested after he allegedly led law enforcement on another chase, this time in Leavenworth County near the Douglas County line. In that incident, according to a news release from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Alexander allegedly ran two other cars off the road before deputies conducted a “tactical vehicle intervention” to disable his vehicle on Kansas Highway 32 near 235th Street. New charges were not filed in connection with that incident, according to court records.

Before he was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Stacey Donovan in Douglas County District Court, Alexander said that he fled from law enforcement in December because he was carrying drugs, and he thought that fleeing would lead to a lighter sentence than a drug possession conviction would. Several family members attended the sentencing and told him goodbye before he was remanded into custody.

Alexander has 23 convictions on his criminal record, including multiple convictions for theft and burglary, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.