DOUGLAS COUNTY, Mo. (KY3) – A man from Sparta is behind bars after leading several law enforcement agencies on a chase and ramming into two patrol cars, one of which was driven by the Douglas County sheriff.
According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, early Sunday morning, officers with the Ozark Police Department told Douglas County deputies that they were chasing a suspect into Douglas County.
A Douglas County deputy joined the chase near the Christian/Douglas County line on Highway 14. Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase also joined in on the chase.
Degase says he was stationed at the Highway 14 and Highway 5 intersection to keep the suspect from going into Ava. The suspect then pulled into a gas station, and Sheriff Degase and another deputy attempted to block the man in the parking lot.
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect then rammed into both cruisers of Sheriff Degase and the deputy, then rammed an Ozark Police cruiser.
Sheriff Degase then ordered the man to get out of the car, but he refused to get out. That’s when Degase says he went to physically remove the man from the car but the man kept resisting.
Moments later, Degase and several law enforcement officers from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Ava Police Department, and Ozark PD all worked to get the man in handcuffs.
According to Sheriff Degase, the man also attempted to get a knife from a fanny pack on his waist. Ozark PD K9 assisted with securing the man while he was getting handcuffed.
The man was booked in the Douglas County Jail without bond on three counts of first-degree assault on law enforcement, three counts of armed criminal action, aggravated fleeing arrest, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and DWI.
The man has not been formally charged.
Sheriff Degase and the Douglas County deputy got minor injuries.
“We were very fortunate that no one was seriously injured in this incident. There is only one good and that is knowledge and one evil and that is ignorance,” Sheriff Degase said on Facebook.
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