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Car in high-speed police chase damages Maple Grove Cemetery

By Lisa Stevens John - | Nov 29, 2000

A high-speed chase that originated last Wednesday in Lawrence took a circuitous route through Tonganoxie’s Maple Grove Cemetery and finally ended up in the Kansas River.

Sgt. Charlie Yates, of the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Department, said Douglas County officers arrested Louis G. Galloway, 37, Lawrence. He was charged last Wednesday in Douglas County District Court with felony counts of theft, criminal damage and eluding police, and misdemeanor charges of driving with a suspended license and reckless driving.

“It started out in Lawrence on a domestic situation,” Yates said.

He said an ex-girlfriend of Galloway’s had been battered at least twice earlier in the week and officers had been on the lookout for the suspect.

He was seen early Wednesday morning.

“They tried to stop the suspect,” Yates said. “They entered into our county and south of Tonganoxie they entered into Maple Grove Cemetery.”

Yates explained that once inside the cemetery, the suspect made a U-turn and drove back toward the road, which officers had blocked off. To exit, he drove around the officers, damaging a cemetery gate. From there, the suspect returned to U.S. Highway 24-40 and headed back to Lawrence, driving at speeds reaching 100 mph.

In pursuit of the suspect were three Lawrence Police Department cars and one Douglas County Sheriff’s Department car, Yates said.

In North Lawrence, the suspect drove the car, a 1987 Lincoln Towncar owned by the suspect’s ex-girlfriend, down a boat ramp and into the Kansas River at North Eighth and Oak streets.

“The driver managed to get out,” Yates said. “The vehicle was completely submerged.”

The suspect was arrested and taken to the Douglas County Jail.

Yates said charges for attempting to elude, reckless driving and criminal damage to property are pending in Leavenworth County.