A speeding motorist who refused to stop for Barton County Deputy Keith Kennon was arrested early Monday after a pursuit.
Kennon reports that at 12:09 a.m. he notified the 911 dispatch center he was attempting to stop a speeding car, a brown Chrysler, north of Great Bend. When the car pulled off North Washington St. onto U.S. 281, he said, "I realized that the vehicle was pulling ahead of me.
"I activated my same-lane radar; it gave a readout on the display screen of 85 mph," Kennon’s report continues. "As we approached NE 70 Road, I activated my emergency lights to try to perform a traffic stop with the vehicle. I noticed that the driver was not slowing down when I turned my lights on. I tried to flash the vehicle with my high beams several times, thinking the driver just didn’t see I was behind him."
Two miles later, Kennon advised dispatch the car was still moving at about 85 mph and the pursuit was moving into the city of Hoisington. "We pursued the vehicle from Broadway to Fifth St. north and south, to Court St. and Pine St., west and east, making several turns on several different roads and taking several alleyways."
BCSO reports show that at one point during the pursuit, one officer said the driver "almost went head-on with me."
Officers from the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and Hoisington Police Department deployed stop sticks to deflate the car’s tires, and both sets of stop sticks were successful. The car traveled for a block and a half after both rear tires were deflated and then came to a stop. The driver, Marcus Taylor, 31, got out of the car and ran east from the 100 block of West Third St. in Hoisington, crossing Main to the 100 block of East Third, where a BCSO deputy shot Taylor with a Taser-brand stun gun. He surrendered without further incident and was taken into custody at 12:27 a.m.
Taylor was booked into the Barton County Jail on charges of aggravated assault, driving under the influence, driving with an expired driver’s license, reckless driving, flee and elude, speeding, driving left of center and running stop signs. His bond was set at $40,000, cash or surety.
