July 24, 2023 – A manhunt that began last Sunday evening and continued into Monday morning ended in an unusual rescue operation as the fugitive suffered serious injuries after falling down a steep hillside.
The incident began when Excelsior Springs police officers attempted to serve a warrant on an individual at a residence near East Shirewood and Saint Louis Avenue. Police Chief Gregory Dull described the sequence of events, noting that the man had been hiding in the backyard when officers arrived at the scene. As officers approached his hiding spot, the suspect fled, disappearing into a wooded area at the property’s edge.
“The terrain was pretty steep and it was dark, so for safety reasons, our officers decided not to pursue the subject any further,” Dull explained. As the search resumed on Monday morning officers heard someone yelling from the wooded area and located the suspect at the bottom of a ravine. The police immediately called for EMS due to the suspect’s apparent injuries.
“It turned out it was the person that they believed ran from the officers the night before,” Chief Dull said. “His injuries were actually pretty serious, and I believe he had some broken bones. It’s about a 30-foot drop to the bottom there.”
Captain Scott Guthrie along with a team of numerous fire and paramedics were tasked with the difficult job of rescuing the man from the ravine. “We got a report that there was a resident … that had fallen off a cliff and ended up about 70 to 100 feet down into a ravine,” Guthrie stated. “We decided that we needed to do a low-angle rescue to get him out of there.”
The rescue operation involved two paramedics and several police officers descending to the bottom of the ravine and took almost an hour to complete. The rescue team had to carefully navigate a steep hillside covered in rocks, tree limbs, and thick brush while contending with an incoming storm. The complex nature of the rescue also required the use of chainsaws and axes to clear a safer path through the vegetation.
“We put the patient onto a backboard and then into a Stokes basket, a wire basket with a heavy aluminum frame around it, and used a two-to-one relay to pull him up the hill,” Guthrie detailed. The basket and pulley system was used not only to hoist the injured man but also to lift the medics and police officers who were attending to him. “Safety is paramount, not just for the patient but also for the responders,” Guthrie emphasized. “This includes the police officers, EMTs, and firefighters involved in the operation.”
After the rescue, the fugitive was transported to a local hospital where his condition was described as serious but stable. According to Chief Dull, the warrant will be served at a later time.
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