UPDATED: Suspect Charged in High-Speed Pursuit

UPDATED: Authorities filed felony and misdemeanor charges Wednesday against the man who led deputies on a high-speed chase Tuesday before abandoning the truck he was driving on Diener Road and fleeing on foot.

Derrick L. Howard, 24, was taken into custody shortly before 1:30 p.m. following a manhunt by county deputies, Washington police and Missouri Highway Patrol troopers. officers found him hiding behind a house on nearby Holtgrewe Road.

Howard is charged with resisting arrest and second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, both felonies, and misdemeanor charges of driving while revoked and careless and imprudent driving.

Earlier Story

A suspect who fled on foot into a wooded area off Diener Road early Tuesday afternoon was arrested a short time later hiding outside a home on Holtgrewe Road, west of Pottery Road.

As a precaution, nearby schools and churches, including Washington West, were locked down while officers searched for the man. Other Washington School District Schools also initiated lockdown procedures.

The man, later identified as Derrick Howard Jr., 24,Union, drove to the dead end of Diener Road and abandoned his vehicle after a deputy sheriff attempted to stop him for a traffic offense, according to reports.

In the initial report, the man was reported to be wearing camouflage and carrying a long gun. When he was finally arrested shortly after 1 p.m., he did not have a weapon.

Deputies later recovered the gun, an assault rifle, hidden in a tree.

Sheriff Gary Toelke said the deputy attempted to stop the suspect on Highway A for careless and imprudent driving and the suspect fled to Pottery Road, then down Diener.

Authorities also found a shotgun along with suspected drug paraphernalia in the truck Howard had been driving, the sheriff's office said. 

See the Wednesday Missourian for the complete story.