Police chase ends after plane using heat sensors spots man near pond

A 32-year-old man from the Wichita area has been arrested in connection with a chase, shooting and crash Tuesday in Butler County. Even after being arrested, Tommy Ockert tried to make a run for it after being checked out at the hospital, police said.

Ockert was arrested on suspicion of four counts of aggravated battery on an officer, felony flee and elude, obstruction and felony criminal damage to property.

Sheriff Kelly Herzet said the chase started at around 4:30 a.m. when the Rose Hill Police Department spotted the driver of a red Chevrolet truck driving suspiciously in a residential neighborhood.

Officers later found out the truck was stolen in Wichita on Saturday.

During the chase, the driver fired a single shot from a handgun at pursuing officer, Rose Hill police Lt. Taylor Parlier said.

As a Butler County deputy was attempting to put out stock sticks, the driver turned and hit the deputy’s patrol car head-on, Herzet said. The deputy wasn’t injured.

The driver escaped out of the passenger window and ran to a nearby property, Herzet said. He then fell in a pond then hid near the water until being spotted by the heat sensors on a Kansas Highway Patrol plane, Herzet said. The man was arrested at about 6 a.m., roughly 90 minutes after the pursuit started.

Ockert was taken to the Kansas Medical Center in Andover to be checked out. While leaving the hospital in police custody, Ockert tried to run, Parlier said. He made it to a home near the hospital and attempted to open a door before being taken back into custody.

This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 3:46 PM.