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Last updated on Monday, January 28, 2013
(UNDATED) - A police pursuit which started late Saturday night in Lawrence County ended in a crash outside of Campbellsburg.
The chase began when a Lawrence County police officer attempted to stop the vehicle for a traffic violation on Kentucky Hollow Road near Needmore. The drive then fled west on Trogdon Road and onto Ind. 37 and continued south. The officer then reported the occupants of the vehicle were throwing what looked like baggies out of the car window near Hills Construction.
The vehicle crashed around midnight on Walton Road in Washington County. More than 18 police officers were involved in the chase.
Stephanie Taylor Ferriell, of the Leader Democrat reports, Sheriff Claude Combs was standing outside his residence on State Road 60 West, when the car came by. He estimated the speed at 80 mph. Earlier reports estimated the car to have been traveling at up to 100 mph.
Combs said the vehicle hit stop sticks which had been placed on SR 60 near his driveway. Called "stingers," the sticks have protruding metal points which puncture tires.
They had been placed by the city police and by the Indiana State Police further west. The vehicle apparently drove other both sets.
The vehicle continued on about a half mile, turning right on West Washington School Road. The driver cut through the Westview Church parking lot and across a field, crashing into an embankment on Walton Road.
The driver fled on foot. A female passenger was injured. Combs said he did not know the extent of the woman's injuries, but said she was flown by air ambulance to University of Louisville hospital. According to police logs the woman suffered a broken nose and facial injuries and was treated and released and would be returning to her home in Martinsville.
Utilizing thermal imaging units, local officers searched the area for several hours in an attempt to locate the driver, but were unsuccessful.
Combs said local law enforcement agencies have had stop sticks for a couple of decades. Following a high speed chase that occurred about 20 years ago and in which ended in a populated area, Pekin and Campbellsburg, as well as the sheriff's department and city police, all have the stop sticks.
Combs said officers generally have plenty to time to place them in a strategic area prior to the driver speeding through.
"It ended where it needed to end," he said of the crash. "The intent is to stop them before they get to a highly populated area and they did that."
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