Osage County deputies made arrests after two separate pursuits Tuesday.
The first, according to Sheriff Chris Wells, started developing shortly after 2 am. A deputy tried to make a traffic stop near 125th and South Topeka for an alleged traffic infraction, but the driver, later identified as 44-year-old Landon Noah of Topeka, took off instead. Wells says the pursuit eventually went west on US Highway 56 into Scranton and ended when Noah drove onto a dead-end street.
Noah was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault on law enforcement, aggravated battery on law enforcement, flee and elude, DUI, reckless driving and driving without a license.
Deputies were aided by Carbondale Police, Scranton Fire and Osage County EMS with this incident.
Shortly before 1 pm, deputies were alerted about a suspicious person on a porch in the 700 block of East 205th, or about six miles north of Lyndon. As deputies responded, they got other information saying the suspect got inside the house before taking a truck and leaving before deputies arrived.
A deputy saw a vehicle matching the description near West 229th and South Fairlawn, about four miles east-northeast of Osage City. A deputy tried to stop the vehicle but the driver, later listed as 28-year-old Kelsey Ritter of Burlingame, drove off instead.
The vehicle pursuit ended in a field near West 217th and Auburn Road, about three miles north of Osage City. Ritter fled on foot, so deputies set up a perimeter using deputies, Kansas Highway Patrol troopers, two K-9 units and a drone to search a wooded area nearby. Ritter was eventually found and arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery on law enforcement, interference of law enforcement, flee and elude, burglary, felony theft and criminal damage.
Formal charges are pending against both Noah and Ritter.
