SALINE COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man involved in high-speed chase for the second time in less than a month.

Just after 8:15 p.m. on Thursday, a Sheriff’s deputy tried to pulled over a 2006 Buick Lucerne driven by Vernon L. Howard, 39, Salina, on Interstate 135 at Water Well for speeding, according to Saline County Sheriff’s Captain Roger Soldan.

The vehicle left the interstate at the Water Well Road exit and did not stop.

Howard drove eastbound at a speed over 100 miles per hour.

Three passengers jumped out of the car in the area of Simpson Road while the car was going 40-50 miles per hour.

The pursuit ended when the car went into a field near Cunningham Road. Howard ran from the car.

With the use of night vision equipment, he was apprehended. Saline County Reserve deputies and the Kansas Highway Patrol assisted in the brief search.

Howard was booked into the Saline County Jail on requested charges that include flee and elude, obstruction, and kidnapping.

The kidnapping charges are requested because two passengers, 19-year-old Halie McPherson, and 29-year-old Kyle Young, both of Wichita, had asked Howard to stop so they could get out of the car.

They, along with 32-year-old Robert Scott Jr., were treated for minor scrapes after jumping out of the car.

The three were getting a ride from Wichita to Junction City. Scott was booked into the jail on an outstanding warrant from Geary County.

On December 17, Howard was involved in a high speed chase with Salina Police that ended after the car he was in, hit a curb on East Crawford near Bill Burke Park. In that chase speeds were reached 75 miles per hour, according to police.