Police: Man steals combine, sparks slow-speed chase

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- John Roth figures it was a bullet to the oil filter that killed his old Case IH combine and brought a low-speed police chase to an otherwise peaceful end.

Officers fired 18 rounds into the farm implement, which had been stolen Tuesday night from a cornfield east of Ellinwood in central Kansas.

But not before the combine rammed two patrol cars, hit a parked pickup truck and damaged power poles as it attempted to elude officers at speeds approaching 20 mph.

"Since 1981, I've chased a lot of vehicles, but we've never chased a combine," Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said.

A 37-year-old Ellinwood man was arrested on suspicion of several crimes, but no formal charges had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon.

Barton County prosecutor Doug Matthews said he anticipated that would happen soon.

Deputies arrived at a county road near Roth's property about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a call about an abandoned vehicle.

Soon, a 911 call told of a combine with no lights "weaving from ditch to ditch" east of the 1,200-person town, Bellendir said.

Andrew Sieker slowed for a curve when he encountered the oncoming implement -- an eight-row corn head on the front.

"We met right at the curve and I swerved out of the way," said Sieker, himself a farmer. "He swerved and hit some guy wires. It was close."

The combine struck several power poles and a pickup truck in Ellinwood, ripping the corn head from the implement.

When an officer approached, the man put the machine in reverse and rammed the officer's car before fleeing the scene, Bellendir said.

During the chase, a deputy pulled in front of the machine to set a roadblock, but it was rammed and dragged.

Two officers then opened fire, shooting out the tires and hitting the motor.

The sheriff said the suspect, who owns the vehicle that was found abandoned on the road, was trying to restart the machine when he was taken into custody.

Bellendir said no administrative action would be taken against the officers, who were deemed justified in disabling the farm implement because of the threat it posed.