(KAIR)--It could have resulted in major injuries, but an Atchison Police Officer walks away after being dragged 10 feet by a vehicle. “Injury wise, it could have been very tragic for the officer,” Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson tells MSC News. 

The incident happened when the officer spotted a wanted man walking in the parking lot of a local business. “It began around 11:30 p.m. when an officer on patrol was in the Walmart area,” Wilson says. “He spotted a subject exiting the store...a 33-year-old Atchison man who the officer knew there were outstanding warrants for. The officer observed the subject walk up to a car. The officer approached him. The subject's car door was still open when the officer approached.” 

Wilson says the officer was in the process of  attempting to take Wayne Williams into custody when Williams drove off, dragging the officer with him. “The car door was open [and] the officer was kind of wedged between the open door and the driver's area of the vehicle. As the person drove off in a fast manner, the officer was drug but was able to free himself after being drug about ten-feet or so.” 

According to Wilson, Williams then fled from the parking lot and was soon spotted by another officer who gave pursuit until Williams' vehicle gave out. “The subject then continued out of the parking lot out onto Raven Hill Drive where he was spotted by a second officer that was in the area. A pursuit began. The subject at that point was eastbound on Raven Hill Drive when the vehicle left the roadway, went into a ditch, a nearby adjacent ditch. When it came back out on the roadway, it was then westbound and went to 73 Highway to Green [Street], eventually eastbound to 7th Street. When it got off onto 7th Street, the vehicle engine was smoking, and the vehicle came to a stop and he was taken into custody. During the arrest, it was discovered he had also just committed a theft at Walmart.” 

Williams was taken into custody on charges including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, obstructing legal process, fleeing and attempting to elude, reckless driving and other traffic violations, theft, and for District and Municipal Court warrants for failure to appear. 

The name of the officer involved in the initial altercation is not being made public.