The driver of a vehicle that wrecked during an early-morning police pursuit Thursday on the Kansas Turnpike has been charged with four felonies in Illinois.
William E. Gustafson, 37, of Tinley Park, Ill., was being held in the Lyon County Jail on a charge of being a fugitive from justice. He was arrested after being treated at Newman Regional Health for injuries received during the one-vehicle accident as he was being pursued south on the turnpike by Emporia police and Kansas Highway Patrol officers.
Normal, Ill., police detectives served an arrest warrant on Gustafson from McLean County, Ill., on Friday in Emporia, according to information from Normal Police Chief Kent Crutcher.
Gustafson is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated battery.
The charges were the result of a report filed on Oct. 12 with the Normal Police Department, regarding a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in Normal. Normal officers conducted a criminal investigation and collected evidence that resulted in charges. They were assisted by the Tinley Park and Emporia Police Departments.
Gustafson is being held in the Lyon County Jail, pending his transfer back to McLean County, Crutcher said.
Gustafson and a 17-year-old juvenile were in a car that had been stopped for speeding by an Emporia police officer near the turnpike interchange. The officer noticed the scent of burnt marijuana in the Gustafson vehicle. With assistance from the Kansas Highway Patrol, marijuana was taken from the car. Gustafson allegedly then sped off, onto the turnpike headed south.
His vehicle went out of control at approximately Milepost 103, 24 miles south of Emporia.
The juvenile was identified as a runaway from Wisconsin.
Emporia Police Lt. Ed Owens said earlier that both Gustafson and the juvenile carried multiple ID documents.
Crutcher reminded the public that all suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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