Nebraska State Patrol troopers had their hands full with an Illinois man near Kearney Monday evening into Tuesday morning. At approximately 5:30 p.m. Monday a trooper made a traffic stop on a Jeep Patriot for speeding on Interstate 80 near Kearney.
Shortly after the stop, NSP received a report of an SUV traveling more than 100 miles per hour and passing vehicles on the shoulder. The trooper was able to locate the reported vehicle, which was the same vehicle from the previous traffic stop.
The trooper attempted another traffic stop, but the vehicle accelerated and fled. The trooper initiated a pursuit. The patrol says the Jeep continued to drive in a reckless manner and was approaching an area of heavy traffic. The trooper was aware of the driver’s identity and was also aware that a young child was in the vehicle, so the trooper discontinued the pursuit out due to public safety concerns.
At approximately 10:45 p.m. NSP and Hall County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a crash and abandoned vehicle near the I-80 Interchange near Alda. The vehicle was the same Jeep that had been involved in the two prior incidents. The trooper provided a subject description to gas station attendants in the area.
At around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday the patrol received a report of the same people attempting to travel by cab to a hotel in Kearney. A trooper found the cab as it exited I-80 at the Kearney interchange. The trooper performed a traffic stop and the cab driver exited the vehicle. The passenger, identified as the driver of the Jeep, then got into the driver’s seat and attempted to drive away.
The trooper unsuccessfully deployed a taser and the man began to drive, striking the trooper in the leg and then striking a pole in a gas station parking lot. The man then fled on foot, but the trooper quickly apprehended him.
26 year old Nike Stevens of Chicago was booked in the Buffalo County Jail for assault on an officer with a motor vehicle, flight to avoid arrest, child abuse/neglect, resisting arrest and obstruction. A woman passenger and the child were transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney for treatment of minor injuries suffered in the crash earlier in the night. The trooper was also treated for a minor leg injury.