Man, officers exchange fire during chase
BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle
G. Marc Benavidez/The Wichita Eagle
EMTs took a man to a hosptial after a police chase that begain in Haysville and ended near a South Broadway motel. Police do not think the man was injured. Police arrested a 38-year-old man Wednesday night after exchanging gunfire with him during a chase from Haysville to a hotel in the 4500 block of South Broadway.
Carol Neugent, Haysville Police Department spokeswoman, said police received a call at 8:13 p.m. about a suicidal a man in the 300 block of Hungerford. When they responded, she said, he got into a PT Cruiser and drove off.
Early in the ensuing five-mile chase, she said, the man shot at the officers while driving, and they fired back. One police car and the man's car were both hit, she said.
The chase went north on Broadway, eventually involving the Kansas Highway Patrol, Wichita police and the Sedgwick County sheriff's office.
Police used stop sticks to disable the car at 47th South and Broadway, Neugent said. The man kept driving and stopped about two blocks later near the El Rancho Motel.
Officers reported to 911 dispatchers that the man put his gun in his mouth as he was surrounded by officers. Dispatchers asked the motel manager to get guests indoors, and police closed down Broadway.
"The individual was obviously unstable," Neugent said. "Actually, I think he was hoping one of the officers would actually shoot him."
Police were able to subdue the man without more shots being fired, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital for observation. Police do not believe he was injured.
The KBI is being called in to investigate because the incident is classified as an officer-involved shooting.