Bottomless bandit runs again

A man who tried to escape from police in September after a domestic dispute and while wearing only a shirt has ran again. Late last week the man led police on a high-speed chase through three counties … again following a domestic dispute, but this time he had on pants.

Charles D. Atkins, age 33, has been charged with two Class A felony counts of assault on a law enforcement officer, a Class C felony of second-degree assault, the Class C felony of second-degree domestic assault and the Class D felony of resisting a lawful stop by fleeing.

According to the probable cause statement, Farmington police were called to the Atkins’ apartment after a verbal and then physical disturbance.

The landlord told police that a tenant had called her about a verbal disturbance at the Atkins’ apartment.

She said when she arrived, the wife came running out of the apartment and Atkins was holding her. The landlord said she blocked Atkins from pursuing his wife. She said he shoved the door closed and hit her in the arm. She said she pushed the door open and hit Atkins in self defense. She said he then ran to the vehicle and attempted to pull his wife into the vehicle. When the wife got free, he drove away in his wife’s vehicle.

The wife said Atkins wanted her to go with him to St. Louis and she said no.

According to reports, Farmington Officer Jason Isabel said he and Lt. Larry Lacey were in Isabel’s patrol car when they spotted Atkins driving on Hillsboro Road near Robby Lane Thursday afternoon. Isabel later said Atkins swerved toward his stationary patrol car as if he was going to hit the car. The officer said had to perform an evasive action to keep from his car being hit on the passenger side.

Isabel activated his lights and sirens to stop Atkins. He said Atkins failed to stop at a stop sign and made a left onto Route D, traveling at speeds of up to 80 mph. Atkins traveled from Rouggly Road to Route JJ to U.S. 67 North. Once on U.S. 67, Atkins was driving at speeds near 115 mph. He continued north on Interstate 55.

Isabel said Atkins continued on the Interstate to the Herculaneum exit where he took the exit but then got right back on the Interstate. Isabel said Atkins avoided several spike deployments along the way.

The Arnold Police Department was able to successfully deploy spike strips on the driver’s side tires near the 141-mile marker.

Atkins finally came to a stop a half mile south of Butler Hill Road.

“Atkins refused to exit the vehicle and once removed from the vehicle, he resisted arrest and would not allow officers to handcuff him,” the probable cause statement reads.

He was subdued, taken into custody and eventually transported to St. Anthony’s Medical Center for treatment before being booked into the St. Francois County Jail.

At the time of his arrest, Atkins had several warrants stemming from an incident in September in which officers arrested him following a brief police chase. At that time he wasn’t carrying a valid driver’s license, or pants in which to hold one.

According to police reports from that incident, Farmington dispatchers received a call about an erratic driver in the 400 block of Shenandoah who hit a fire hydrant and left the scene. A witness followed the suspect and gave a description until police could pursue the driver.

Officers attempted to stop Atkins at Karsch Boulevard and Washington Street near C-Barn. The driver then pulled into a gravel parking lot near a house but after the vehicle stopped, the driver accelerated at a high rate of speed causing the vehicle to spin around. The vehicle began turning circles in the yard while trying to gain traction.

Atkins then turned toward Washington Street and accelerated forward, crashing into the front end of a patrol car. The officer was not injured but the patrol car had to be towed from the scene.

The driver continued south on Washington Street going through a red stop light. Atkins, driving at a high rate of speed, attempted to turn onto Michigan Street from Karsch but ran off the right side of the road. He drove over a curb to go to back to Washington Street.

The driver collided with a stopped SUV while trying to make a right turn at a high rate of speed onto Burks Road. He then turned into a driveway and went through a person’s yard before knocking down a fence and becoming stuck on a pile of brush.

The driver accelerated backward and drove through three front lawns before he hit a culvert pipe and the vehicle overturned.

Atkins, who had no clothes on below his waist, climbed out of the driver’s side window and attempted to run from police. While three officers tried to arrest him, he screamed profanity and struggled with them, kicking his arms and legs at them. Since he refused to stand up, officers carried him to the patrol car and put him in the back seat.

Atkins refused medical treatment at the scene. He also refused to answer questions while being processed at the county jail.

He also faces charges in Jefferson County of assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest from what appears to be a June incident.