photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Sept. 4, 2024.

A Douglas County jury on Tuesday found a man guilty of fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer and reckless driving in a case that involved the man driving the wrong way on Kansas Highway 10.

Eliu D. Sanchez initiated a police pursuit shortly after midnight on Jan. 21, 2023, after he was pulled over on suspicion of driving a stolen Chevrolet Silverado truck. According to court documents, Sanchez was going eastbound on K-10 and initially pulled over to the shoulder of the road for a sheriff’s deputy, but then quickly took off. The pursuit continued eastbound for a few miles, but then Sanchez crossed the median and continued driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of K-10.

Eventually Sanchez exited the highway, crashed into a utility pole, fled on foot and was found in a field in rural Johnson County. At the time, Sanchez denied that he had been driving, saying that he was simply a passenger, but then at a later date he admitted to police that he had been behind the wheel — an admission that his attorney, Cooper Overstreet, sought unsuccessfully to have suppressed.

Judge Sally Pokorny scheduled Sanchez’s sentencing for Nov. 12.