(KAIR)--Atchison authorities are searching for a stolen pickup truck that led area law enforcement on a pursuit, complete with a crash into a house, that ended with the suspect vehicle escaping into Missouri.

It began Tuesday morning, around 10:30, when a 2012 Ford 250 two-tone brown truck was reported stolen in Leavenworth, with Atchison Police notified that it was heading toward Atchison. According to Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson, “a short time later a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper reported he was in pursuit” of the stolen truck, southwest of Atchison.

In a release, Wilson explained that the pursuit went west of Atchison, with the Trooper eventually losing sight of the truck, which “was next spotted near the area of 17th and Country Club Road where it was eastbound on Country Club and turned south onto 17th Street.” From there, the truck went southbound, continuing to Main Street, where it crossed the street to Chestnut, lost control, and crashed into a home. According to Atchison Fire Chief Patrick Weishaar, “the front of the residence had been demolished” when his crews arrived on the scene about 11:10 Tuesday morning, adding that “the vehicle then backed out and continued down Chestnut Street, leaving a trail of debris before exiting” the neighborhood.

The truck then headed to 18th and Main where it went, according to Wilson, westbound on Main, with the driver fleeing west of the city before returning, eastbound on Main Street. The truck then went to 4th and U.S. Highway 59 where it crossed the Amelia Earhart Bridge into Missouri.

Wilson said “the truck was last seen in the area of southwest Buchanan County and has not been located.”

Anyone with information should call police at 913-367-4323.

As for the home that incurred damage, Weishaar said “the resident, who was home at the time, was not in the front living room at the time of the incident,” but “was evaluated by Atchison County EMS but refused further treatment.”
Weishaar said no other injuries are reported, with five of the resident’s cats rescued by fire crews.

As a precaution, the home’s utilities were disconnected.
Weishaar calls the structure currently “uninhabitable,” but said the owners have already begun plans to secure the structure and begin repairs.”