Route of chase
Editor's Note: Last weekend area news outlets ran a press release provided by the Rooks County Sheriff’s Department providing information on a high speed police pursuit starting in Hays and ending in Phillips County. Since then the Phillips County Review has uncovered additional details not provided in that initial release, and publishes them below.
By KIRBY ROSSPhillips County Review
Seven different law enforcement agencies, including the Phillips County Sheriff’s Department, were involved in an intense police chase through three counties last Friday morning.
With the early-morning felony vehicle pursuit starting in Hays and coming to an end 11 miles north of Phillipsburg, a massive hours-long manhunt then ensued for two suspects on foot as residents were warned to hunker down in their homes and consider the fugitives armed and dangerous.
The dramatic events all began in Hays shortly after 2 a.m. when the Hays Police Department attempted to pull over a pickup which had been reported stolen out of Colorado.
When the driver of the Dodge Ram 1500 refused to stop, a pursuit ensued that was quickly joined by the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department.
Heading north up U.S. 183 at speeds in excess of 100 mph, once the suspect vehicle reached Rooks County the Rooks County Sheriff’s Department attempted, unsuccessfully, to set up spike strips.
Now being chased by the Hays PD, the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department, and the Rooks County Sheriff’s Department, as the procession reached Plainville the Plainville Police Department joined in.
The Kansas Highway Patrol also took up the pursuit, which continued north through Stockton and on into Phillips County where a Phillips County Sheriff’s deputy was able to deploy, this time successfully, spike strips south of Glade.
However, with rims showering sparks the fleeing driver continued his attempt to escape in the partially disabled vehicle, traveling through Phillipsburg and on north of town until coming to a stop five miles south of the Nebraska state line on U.S. 183 near Fox Road.
Tires shredded and with the truck running on rims, the pickup had reached its limit at that point, where two occupants of the vehicle bailed from it and fled on foot.
Fearing the worst from desperate fugitives, at 3:13 a.m. the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office went public, making an online post stating “Many officers from area law enforcement are assisting in the search for a male and female subject. Citizens in the area are asked to secure their homes and vehicles and dial 911 if they see or hear anything suspicious.”
Twenty minutes later, with the massive search reaching full crescendo, the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office updated its public warning, posting the suspects’ photos and cautioning residents to consider them armed and dangerous, and to not approach them.
Manhunt site
Joining the hunt, the Norton County Sheriff’s Department also sent deputies over to assist. That assistance included bringing along their infrared camera-equipped aerial drone, which was promptly deployed, focusing on the area along U.S. 183 between Eagle Road (Jerry Fisher farmstead, Fox Road, and Granite Road (Tower Hill, and on east to East 200 Road.
With a threat of hostage-taking always being of major concern in an incident like this, the good news was the primary search area encompassed 4 square miles of generally uninhabited cropland. Just one occupied farmhouse was located at the far northwest corner of of the site.
DRAMATIC FOOTAGE -- This infrared drone image shows an armed officer in tactical crouch moving in on two suspects 11 miles north of Phillipsburg early last Friday morning. Seven different law enforcement agencies were involved in their apprehension a 75-mile high speed chase.
Around 6:45 a.m., nearly five hours after the drama began, the drone located the fugitives. Assisted with that information law enforcement officers were able to surround the immediate area before moving in and cornering the suspects, and then taking them into custody at gunpoint. The Hays PD is holding 24-year-old Freedom R. Spinner on suspicion of fleeing and attempting to elude law enforcement, felony interference with a law enforcement official and possession of stolen property. He is being held in the Ellis County jail, and the HPD is working with Colorado authorities to extradite.
Spinner / Ellis Co. photo
“We continue to use technology to make our job safer,” Hays Police Chief Don Scheibler said of the drone usage. “I am extremely grateful for the cooperation of all of the northwest Kansas law enforcement that participated. We all came together to solve a problem. This is a violent felon that came to our community and they all joined in to help us hold him accountable.”