Pratt Police officers were busy during the late-night and early morning hours of October 11-12. Officers searching the area along the east side of Pratt for a vehicle stolen during a home invasion in Wichita, KS came upon a suspicious vehicle parked behind a building formerly housing Aaron’s Rent To Own.
The suspicious vehicle devolved into the pursuit of a stolen fuel truck, owned by Skyland Grain, left at Southwest Truck Parts for repair. During the chase, the operator of the fuel truck rammed the pursuing police vehicle rendering it inoperable. The officer driving the police car was uninjured.
The secondary police unit continuing the pursuit, followed the fuel truck to the American Inn. As the officer followed, the fuel truck driver jumped from the moving vehicle, running into the dark. The unoccupied fuel truck then crashed into a car belonging to an American Inn guest, pushing it into the building, causing significant damage. Additional officers were called out and responded to take control of the scene at the motel so the on-duty police could continue their search for the fuel truck driver and await a tow truck for the wrecked vehicle. It was later determined that the fuel truck had been stolen from Southwest Truck Parts.
As officers began a search of the area, calling additional officers to assist, they returned to Aaron’s Rent to Own and found that the suspicious vehicle had been hooked onto a trailer. On the trailer, officers found the 2015 Audi passenger car stolen during the Wichita home invasion.
Officers were conducting their investigation at the original scene when they observed a wrecker leaving Southwest Truck Parts. At the time, officers believed that the wrecker had been sent to recover the stolen fuel truck.
A short time later, officers learned that Southwest Truck Parts had been burglarized and the service truck stolen. The service truck was last seen west bound on US 54 Highway. Later in the day, Meade County Sheriff’s officers were dispatched to another home invasion, this one occurring within their community. Responding Deputies found that a white male suspect, driving the stolen service truck from Southwest Truck Parts, had burglarized a Meade County home occupied by a single young adult. When confronted, the male suspect fled the scene in the service truck. Meade County officers and Troopers for the Kansas Highway Patrol pursued the service truck south into Oklahoma. Once in Oklahoma, the pursuit was assumed by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Beaver County (OK) Sheriff’s Office.
The service truck was chased to a rural location near Forgan, Oklahoma, while attempting to ram into other vehicles causing Oklahoma authorities to fire on the service truck to render it
inoperable. Following an hours long-stand off, during which additional rounds were fired, the uncooperative driver was taken into custody.
It was later determined that the pickup and trailer towing the stolen Audi had been reported stolen to the Wichita Police Department on 10/09/2020.
This investigation is on-going, and a large amount of stolen property recovered. At the time of this press release, the suspect’s identity had not been confirmed.
