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By Jason E. Silvers

The Fort Scott Tribune

A Fort Scott man is in Bourbon County jail after allegedly leading multiple law enforcement agencies on a high-speed chase from Nevada to Fort Scott that resulted in two patrol cars being wrecked Wednesday morning.

According to information from Fort Scott police, 21-year-old Jordan Stewart was arrested and booked into the Southeast Kansas Regional Correctional Center Wednesday after a chase that began at a convenience store in Nevada and ended in the area of 702 Shute St. in Fort Scott.

Nevada police officers attempted to arrest Stewart in the parking lot of a Nevada Fastrip near the police station about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday following a tip about a suspicious person. Stewart was identified as a wanted fugitive and officers attempted to arrest him, the Nevada Daily Mail reported.

According to information from KNEM/KNMO radio station in Nevada, Stewart did not want to chat with the officers and drove off in a 2003 Mitsubishi Galant at a undisclosed high rate of speed, hitting one Nevada police car on his way, and headed west on U.S. Highway 54.

Nevada Police said Stewart rammed the Nevada squad car multiple times with his own vehicle.

Nevada officers chased Stewart west from Nevada, then turned the chase over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. But a MSHP trooper's effort to join the chase ended in a crash that totaled the trooper's car. Details of the crash were not released to the media on Thursday.

The Bourbon County Sheriff's Office took up the chase at the Kansas state line and were joined by FSPD officers at the city limits. Bourbon County Undersher-iff Bill Martin said two vehicles from the sheriff's office responded to a request for assistance in the chase.

Interim Fort Scott Police Chief Travis Shelton said FSPD officers were initially dispatched to pursue a stolen police car, but later discovered that was not the case.

The chase ended at 702 Shute, where Stewart allegedly left the vehicle on foot and was found by officers in a wooded area a short time later, according to Shelton.

Most of the chase took place on U.S. Highway 54, Shelton said.

Shelton said officers also obtained a search warrant on Wednesday for Stewart's vehicle and found suspected narcotics and stolen property in the car.

Stewart was arrested on a Bourbon County bench warrant for obstructing apprehension of prosecution. Shelton said additional charges could follow and he is "certain there will be Missouri charges as well."

Phone calls to the Nevada Police Department for comment on Thursday were not returned.

A SEKRCC spokesman said Stewart was still being held as of press time Thursday and bond had not yet been set.