DUI hit and run suspect arrested in Crawford County
A man from Walnut, Kansas, has been arrested for an alleged hit and run early Friday morning.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office says at 3:15am, two deputies were at K-126 and Westfield Road on a traffic enforcement stop, when both of their patrol vehicles were side-swiped by a westbound pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck, later identified as 25-year-old Austin Lallemand, failed to stop and continued westbound on K-126 Hwy.
At the time of the traffic crash, the Deputies had just placed two individuals under arrest and placed them in the back of each of the patrol vehicles. The Deputies were outside of their vehicles with a third passenger, when they heard and saw a vehicle approaching them at a high rate of speed.
Anticipating a collision, one of the Deputies pushed the passenger towards the ditch, and both Deputies also jumped to the ditch away from the patrol vehicles. The driver of the approaching pickup sideswiped both patrol vehicles and continued westbound. The first patrol vehicle sustained the most damage. The female arrestee in that vehicle sustained minor injuries and was transported by EMS to Ascension Via Christi. The male arrestee in the other patrol vehicle did not receive any injuries.
At 3:42am, one of the Deputies located the suspect vehicle and driver approximately 7 miles away at K-126 and 140th Street.
Lallemand is presumed innocent unless and until all allegations against him are proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.