Sunday chase ends in Advance

ADVANCE, Mo. -- A man led police officers on a chase Sunday evening on the gravel roads of two Southeast Missouri counties before hitting a dead end in Advance.

After nearly a half-hour pursuit, officers from the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Advance police caught up to the suspect, Michael E. Pittman of Advance, after he drove down a dead-end street and into a ditch. Police had chased him from a fertilizer plant north of Bell City, Mo., where they suspected that he was attempting to steal anhydrous ammonia, a main ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Officers responded to a call at 8:48 p.m. Sunday from a resident who spotted a suspicious car circling the fertilizer plant. Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner said officers came to the scene and pulled Pittman over, but when they got out to approach his car, he drove away. They pursued him for nearly 20 miles along about 15 gravel roads in both Stoddard and Bollinger counties before they arrested him at 9:13 p.m. in Advance.

"The pursuit went in and out of the streets in Advance for quite a long time," Hefner said.

Hefner said Pittman probably was trying to get to his home in Advance, where he has lived for about a month. Pittman lived in Arkansas before he came to Advance, Hefner said.

Pittman was arrested on warrants of first-degree assault on an officer, armed criminal action, three counts of resisting arrest and attempted theft of anhydrous ammonia. Hefner said police found out later that Pittman also was wanted in Oklahoma on probation violation for vehicle theft.

Pittman was charged with assault on an officer because he allegedly tried to ram a police car with his vehicle during the pursuit. He is being held in the Stoddard County Jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond.