Man crashes car in high-speed chase, faces charges

After a high-speed pursuit resulted in a crash Sunday at Licking, a man faces multiple charges.

Licking Police Chief Chief Pat Burton said officers received reports of a vehicle traveling across multiple locations within Texas County at a high rate of speed and placing other motorists’ lives in danger. An officer was advised the vehicle was traveling toward Licking city limits on U.S. 63 and the Missouri State Highway Patrol had been attempting to stop it.

At approximately 2 p.m., Burton said, a trooper located the car traveling at over 100 miles per hour on U.S. 63 at Twin Bridges. The trooper attempted to stop it, but it failed to yield and continued northbound.

Burton said a Licking officer observed the car traveling into oncoming traffic at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour within the city limits of Licking. The Licking officer activated his overhead emergency lights and siren and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver failed to yield and continued to present an immediate danger to the public. 

The Licking officer observed the vehicle in question swerving while driving at a high rate of speed.  Due to the driver’s previous and continuous reckless driving and disregard for public safety, the officer believed the driver to be impaired and a risk to the public, Burton said.

{{tncms-inline alignment=”left” content=”<p><strong>The driver was airlifted after crashing Sunday at Licking.</strong></p>” id=”f09fb15a-e9e7-42e8-a024-65a4cc4e1743″ style-type=”fact” title=”DRIVER INJURED” type=”relcontent” width=”half”}}

The Licking officer continued the pursuit north on U.S. 63 to Maple Avenue and then south on to Prescott Road where eventually it left the side of the roadway and rolled. The Licking officer took the driver into custody at the scene, Burton said, and after a short-term investigation, it was determined the man driving was heavily intoxicated and had multiple felony arrest warrants.

Due to the driver’s injuries, he was airlifted to a nearby trauma center.

A probable cause statement will be sent to the Texas County prosecutor’s office seeking formal charges for the driver, Matthew K. Randall II. 

The following charges are being sought:

Speeding, careless and imprudent driving, failure to drive on right half of the roadway, driving while suspended – second offense, driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest by fleeing and failure to obey a police officer.

The driver was airlifted after crashing Sunday at Licking.