photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

A Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured June 28, 2022.

Police arrested a 43-year-old Lawrence man on Wednesday afternoon after he allegedly hit a police vehicle and then led officers on a chase down Sixth Street, according to the police department’s social media.

The department said the incident began when officers attempted to contact the man in the parking lot of Econolodge at 2525 W. Sixth St. about warrants he was known to have. The man, however, got in his vehicle and drove it in reverse into a patrol vehicle, before driving over a sidewalk and fleeing eastbound on Sixth Street, the post said.

When the man tried to turn onto Colorado Street, the post said, he lost control and ran over a fire hydrant. His vehicle was disabled and he tried to run away, but officers caught up to him and took him into custody, the post said.

Nobody was injured in the incident. The post said officers found a firearm in the vehicle and “suspected drugs” along the route that the man fled on.

According to the Douglas County Jail booking log, Antonio Paul Jaimez, 43, of Lawrence, was booked into the Douglas County Jail on Wednesday on suspicion of fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement; aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer; interference with law enforcement; distribution of opiates or narcotics; and failure to appear. The arrest location was listed as the Econolodge.