A Shawnee man who was arrested last week after leading police on a high-speed chase with his 2-year-old child in the car now faces six felony charges.
Christopher Lee Kaseca, 23, is charged in Pottawatomie County District Court with eluding a police officer, child abuse by injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, robbery, second degree, and two counts of running a road block. He remained jailed Wednesday on $75,000 bond.
Kaseca is accused of eluding Shawnee Police Cpl. Shawn Parsons in the area of Center and Alice Streets on March 29.
He’s also charged with child abuse by injury, accused of endangering the life of his child, who was unrestrained in that car, while leading police on a pursuit through the streets of Shawnee, charges allege.
During that chase, he’s also accused of assaulting Parsons with his motor vehicle and running two road blocks. He’s also charged with robbery for allegedly stealing prescription drugs before that pursuit began.
A police report shows Cpl. Parsons responded to a disturbance about 11:02 a.m. that day at a home in the 1000 block of North Draper when he noticed a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse leaving that residence quickly.
The vehicle went west on Alice Street at a high rate of speed, so Parsons initiated his lights to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle continued for two blocks before stopping at Center and Chandler Streets.
Parsons said he approached the vehicle carefully because he couldn’t see the driver.
“As I got by the door, I said ‘hello’ in an attempt to get the driver to show me his face or hands. At that time, the driver, later identified as Christopher Kaseca, peeled out and hit me with the rear of the car,” Parsons wrote in his report.
Parsons pushed off the car and ran back to his patrol car before the pursuit began. Cpl. Dan Shumaker was in the area and tried to block the road with his unit, but the report shows Kaseca drove through the ditch and ran the roadblock.
The pursuit reached speeds of 60 to 80 mph at several times as Kaseca allegedly ran 11 stop signs and lights through that area of Shawnee, the report shows, and the pursuit went through yards and alleys.
Kaseca reportedly ran a second road block and later “spun out” near the back exit of Sonic at Harrison and Wallace Streets, where he hit a curb.
Parsons said Kaseca open his car door and attempt to take off running, but other officers tackled him at the side of his vehicle, taking him into custody without further incident.
At the end of the pursuit, police also discovered Kaseca had a passenger in his vehicle while he continued to run from police. The 2-year-old child, later identified as Kaseca’s daughter, was crying, but appeared unharmed, the report shows.
At the conclusion of the events, the report shows Cpl. Steadman observed Kaseca with a pill bottle in his mouth. Where Kaseca was tackled, officers also found about 20 pills, some moist from possibly being in his mouth, the report shows.
Officers took Kaseca to Unity Health Center to be checked for any injuries relating to the accident, then he was booked into the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center.
As part of this pursuit, police learned a robbery and larceny of medication had occurred at the home on Draper Street prior to the onset of the chase and Kaseca was the reported suspect in that incident.
If convicted of the charges in the pursuit case, Kaseca could face various prison sentences and fines.
Court records show Kaseca is also currently on probation for another felony case. He was arrested and charged last year for a burglary at the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy. Court records show he received a five-year suspended sentence for that case in January, but a probation violation report was added to that case this week.
Kaseca’s next court date is May 7.
SHAWNEE, Okla. —
