The Associated Press

Ashland, Ky.

Wednesday, February 09, 2000

Ashland, Ky. – An Ohio man was spending his 34th birthday in jail for leading 10 police departments on a chase through two states in a stolen car.

Timothy A. Kearns, of Portsmouth, Ohio, was arrested early Tuesday following a chase that started in southern Ohio and ended over 30 miles away in Ashland.

Kearns was being chased by Scioto County (Ohio) sheriff’s deputies for allegedly stealing a sports car owned by Harlan Eugene Gambill of Lucasville, Ohio.

Along the way, he forced a cruiser driven by a Kentucky State Police trooper off the road on U.S. 23 and avoided devices police put on the road to puncture his tires.

Kearns lost control when he swerved to avoid the tire-puncture devices, slid sideways down the street and struck a concrete median.

He then spun the car around and continued driving, turning the wrong way down a street for three blocks before he slowed down and gave himself up.

Kearns was arrested on a long list of charges, including driving under the influence of drugs, speeding, fleeing or eluding police, receiving stolen property over $300, operating on a suspended license and three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

He was being held in the Boyd County Detention Center.