Chase ends with crash
Motorcyclist leads chase, crashes into patrol car
A Salina man allegedly led law enforcement officers on a 50-minute chase Thursday night before crashing his motorcycle into a Kansas Highway Patrol car.
A Salina police officer initially stopped the motorcyclist for speeding at 9:48 p.m. Thursday on Republic Avenue near Broadway, according to Barry Plunkett, deputy police chief. As the officer was talking to the driver, Plunkett said, he took off on the motorcycle.
The officer chased the motorcyclist through town, finally stopping in the area of Crawford Street and Interstate Highway 135, where state troopers and Saline County sheriff’s deputies took up the chase.
According to the highway patrol’s crash log, troopers pursued the motorcyclist until 10:38 p.m., when the motorcycle crashed into the patrol car near the intersection of Water Well and Scanlan streets.
Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said the motorcyclist resisted arrest even then, and a sheriff’s deputy used a taser weapon to subdue him.
The motorcyclist, Patrick M. Hanson, 49, Salina, was taken to Salina Regional Health Center for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the crash log.
