photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

A Douglas County Sheriff's Office vehicle is pictured in January 2022.

A Kansas City, Kansas, man allegedly drove through a retaining wall in a stolen truck Sunday night while fleeing Lawrence police before Douglas County sheriff’s deputies disabled the truck on Interstate-70.

Christopher Medina, 32, was arrested on suspicion of fleeing from police while operating a stolen vehicle just before 11 p.m., according to the Douglas County Jail booking log.

The truck was pursued around 10:30 p.m. by Lawrence police, but the vehicle evaded officers by driving through yards and through a retaining wall of railroad ties before police discontinued the pursuit, said George Diepenbrock, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

At 10:48 p.m., deputies located a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado on I-70; it matched the description of a truck reported stolen earlier in the night from a University of Kansas campus parking lot, Diepenbrock said. A deputy attempted to stop the truck as it was traveling eastbound but the driver refused to yield, and the deputy successfully performed a maneuver to disable the truck. Medina was the sole occupant of the vehicle, Diepenbrock said.

When the deputy conducted the maneuver, the suspect’s vehicle left the roadway and ended up on its top. Medics took Medina to Stormont Vail hospital in Topeka, and he was evaluated for injuries. He was then released to the custody of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies found a suspected stolen firearm, narcotics and burglar’s tools in the truck, Diepenbrock said.

The Journal-World has reached out to the Lawrence Police Department for more information about the pursuit and has requested Medina’s booking photo from the sheriff’s office.