February 9, 2025

OTTAWA — A driver escaped after a wild pursuit through Ottawa streets and Franklin County roads and down the Prairie Spirit Trail late Monday night. Lt. Adam Weingartner said an officer tried to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation in the vicinity of 5th and Walnut streets but the driver took off. The officer followed the vehicle, which raced through side streets between 5th and 9th streets on the west side of the city. The officer ended the pursuit because of the high speeds, the traffic conditions and because the driver had his headlights off. The officer radioed in a description. The officer later spotted turning brake lights at 15th and Lincoln and radioed again, Weingartner said. A deputy spotted the vehicle at 15th and Main and chased the vehicle south on Main Street out of the city. In attempt to elude pursuit, the fleeing vehicle drove through a farm field and headed back north on U.S. 59 with deputies and a state trooper in pursuit. Ottawa patrol officers set up tire deflation devices at the south city limits, he said. The vehicle struck the tire deflation devices but kept going north on Main Street on flat tires as police officers used side streets and tried to box the driver in. The chase turned west on W. 3rd Street, south on Walnut to W. 7th Street; at W. 7th Street the vehicle raced south on the Prairie Spirit Trail with state troopers and deputies following on the trail. The fleeing vehicle struck and destroyed a light pole on the trail. The driver blasted through Kanza Park and crashed into a house in the 300 block of West 11th, Weingartner said. The house received damage to the back porch and chimney. The driver ran from the vehicle and stole vehicle from the residents of the house and drove west through several yards, damaging fences and property, and was last seen going west out of the city on West 7th. Police searched the first stolen vehicle and found property that provided information about the driver, but Weingartner declined to release the name. The original vehicle was reported stolen by the Merriam Police Department on May 30, he said. Weingartner said the damage to the house and vehicles will likely be more than $10,000.
Tuesday, June 6, 3 p.m.

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