Hays Post

A Maine man was arrested after a high-speed chase Wednesday that began on Interstate 70, came through Hays and ended in an accident back on the interstate.

According to Trooper Tod Hileman of the Kansas Highway Patrol, the chase began just east of Hays when a trooper spotted a vehicle suspected of being stolen because the tags didn’t match.

The pursuit was called off when the driver — Anthony Vandeventer, 20, Portland, Maine — exited on Commerce Parkway and proceeded through Hays on 27th Street.

The chase resumed when the driver returned to the interstate at Exit 157.

Hileman said the driver crossed the median and drove against traffic two or three times during the chase, before “losing it” in the median and crashing a couple miles west of Hays.

The driver then fled on foot, pursued by a trooper. After a lengthy half-mile foot chase, Vandeventer was apprehended.

He was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, and fleeing and eluding.

A female passenger in the vehicle was not arrested.

The incident led to a short-lived lockdown at Ellis High School, said Principal Corey Burton. Burton said the lockdown was initiated by a call from Ellis Police Chief Taft Yates and lasted only about 10 minutes until the all-clear was given.

It was the second chase that ended in a crash Wednesday. Earlier in the day, KHP troopers apprehended a murder suspect in Ellsworth County after a manhunt that began in Pratt. Click HERE for more on that story.