Man arrested after police chase, crash; second man flees scene

A fiery crash following a police chase sent one man to the hospital and another man on the run, authorities said.

The incident began shortly before 8:20 p.m. Thursday when a police officer tried to pull over a 1999 red Pontiac Grand Prix for a traffic violation at 37th Street North and Armstrong, Lt. James Espinoza said. That’s south of I-235 and west of Arkansas in north Wichita.

The driver refused to stop and the chase began. A police supervisor soon called off the chase, and the Grand Prix was found a few minutes later, Espinoza said.

The vehicle had crashed and caught fire just after striking a median at 37th and Meridian, Espinoza said. The crash was north of the Law Enforcement Training Center and south of I-235, more than a mile west of where the chase began.

Two men ran from the burning Grand Prix, Espinoza said. The driver, who is 26, was caught about a block north of the crash site. He was taken to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis for treatment, then booked into the Sedgwick County Jail, records show. The second man has not been found.

Espinoza said the incident had a fortunate outcome in a number of ways. After firefighters doused the burning car, police found a shotgun in the front seat.

“You have concerns for ... those rounds going off” due to the heat caused by the fire, “causing injuries to citizens and law enforcement,” Espinoza said. “There’s a very strong possibility that could occur.”

The car was racing through a residential area with winding streets and trees at a time of night when families are still out and about.

“Sometimes people roll through” intersections “or misjudge how fast a car was going,” Espinoza said, and that could have had tragic consequences.

This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Man arrested after police chase, crash; second man flees scene."