KEWANEE, Ill. — The Kewanee Police Department spent the early hours of Friday, January 8 in a chase with a Danville man after he got into a fight, damaged propety and stole two cars.
According to a Facebook post from the Kewanee Police Department, at about 5:30 a.m., 38-year-old Danville, Illinois resident Verne Yearian got into a fight with another individual at a home in the 700 block of North Walnut Street, where he allegedly struck the person with a sledgehammer before fleeing the scene on foot.
Yearian then made his way to Casey’s General Store on North Main Street, where he stole a car and disappeared. After this point, police were unable to locate him for the time being.
Police then learned that Yearian drove the vehicle into rural Atkinson, where ha abandoned it and then stole a pickup truck from a local farmhouse. He then proceeded to return to the North Walnut Street residence and repeatedly rammed the owner's vehicle with his stolen truck, inflicting serious damage to both.
Kewanee police were alerted to this altercation and were forced to initiate a chase with Yearian after he ignored an attempt at a traffic stop.
The chase continued into Northeast Park, where Yearin drove on the wrong side of the road through the area before being brought to a stop by a police car blocking the exit onto North Main Street. Yearin then began ramming the vehicle in an attempt to get out of the park, but officers were able to break the driver's side window and turn off the car before he could flee.
Yearian was arrested charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding, fleeing and eluding, two counts of possession stolen vehicle, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and numerous traffic violations. He is being held in the Henry Country Jail for these charges, and also on outstanding warrants from Tazwell County, the Illinois Department of Corrections, and Boone County, Indiana.
