Region/state digest 09/17/05

Man arrested after fleeing Cape Girardeau police

A Cape Girardeau man was arrested for running from police during a traffic stop early Friday afternoon. Calvin Gene Ayers, 45, of 12 N. Pindwood Lane, was the passenger in a vehicle that Cape Girardeau officer Josh Smith pulled over for a traffic violation on William Street at Sheridan Drive. While being identified, Ayers fled the car. He was caught after a short foot pursuit. He is being held in the Cape Girardeau Jail on a Cape Girardeau County warrant for passing bad checks, a Dunklin County warrant for failure to appear for passing bad checks and a New Madrid County warrant for fraud. Charges for resisting arrest are pending, police said.

Jackson man injured in accident near Patton

A Jackson man received serious injuries from a single-car accident early Thursday morning in east Bollinger County, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The accident occurred on Highway 72, seven miles west of Patton, Mo. The car ran off the right side of the roadway, struck a stump and overturned. Driver Jeffery Kennett, 33, was taken by ambulance to Madison County Medical Center in Fredericktown, Mo.

Two injured in Scott County accident

Two Benton, Mo., residents received injuries in a single-car accident in east Scott County on Thursday evening. Driver Timothy Ingram, 18, received serious injuries, and the passenger, 16, received minor injuries. Neither wore seat belts. Both were taken by ambulance to Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. According the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the accident occurred on County Road 505, five miles north of Blodgett, Mo., when the vehicle ran off the road, struck a mailbox and then a fence.

St. Louis officer gets prison for false charges

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis police officer was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison for making up crack cocaine possession charges against two men. Reginald Williams, 44, was found guilty in April of federal counts of obstruction of justice and making false statement to a federal official. According to testimony during Williams' six-day trial, the 15-year officer falsely arrested several people for possession of crack cocaine in August 2001. Prosecutors said the arrests were part of a pattern of misconduct dating to 1996. Williams lied to federal prosecutors about the amount of crack cocaine that one individual possessed and falsely accused two other men of possessing crack when they did not, authorities said.

-- From staff, wire reports