By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

A 21 year-old Missouri man was arrested following a chase that started in rural Ellis County and ended in Palco.

According to Ellis County Undersheriff Bruce Hertel, just after 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, a man reportedly stopped at a residence in the 2000 block of 240th Avenue and told the homeowner he was traveling to Colorado and wanted to stop and brush his teeth.

The homeowner denied access to the man and, suspecting something was suspicious, called law enforcement.

A Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper came across the vehicle traveling southbound on Highway 183. When the trooper attempted to stop the vehicle, according to Hertel, the vehicle turned off on a country road and led the trooper and an Ellis County Sheriff’s Deputy on a chase that reached 120 mph.

Hertel said the man traveled across county to Ellis Avenue and north to Palco. Once in the city of Palco, the man’s vehicle hit a dip in the roadway and lost control of his car.

He then abandoned the vehicle and ran inside a residence in the 300 block of West Third Street in Palco, according to Hertel. He then jumped out a window of the house. There he was surrounded by the troopers and deputy. When he did not obey their commands, Hertel said they were forced to use a taser on the man.

The man was then taken into custody and booked into the Ellis County jail.

Hertel said the man’s identity is being withheld pending charges.