Suspects accused of stealing gasoline in custody after chase

BENTON, MO - Two Sikeston men are in jail after leading officers on a chase, according to a spokesman with the Scott County Sheriff's Department.
Harvee Pratcher, 21, and Maurice E. Newman, 23, were charged with two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the second degree, resisting arrest by fleeing, and stealing. Bond was set at $100,000 each.
According to the sheriff's spokesman, the incident started Wednesday morning when Pratcher and Newman left Boomland without paying for gasoline. Sheriff's Captain Gregg Ourth happened to be at the business at the time and employees told him what had happened.
Ourth followed the vehicle down I-55 South and stopped it near the 78 mile marker. When Ourth tried to take Pratcher into custody, Pratcher broke loose, got back into his vehicle and drove off. His vehicle eventually crossed the median into I-55 North, the spokeman said.
Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter joined the chase and even tried to set up a road block with a tractor trailer, but Walter said Pratcher's vehicle would not stop.
During the chase, Pratcher tried several times to hit both vehicles driven by Sheriff Walter and Ourth, Walter said.
Two Sikeston officers joined in and chased Pratcher's vehicle up the ramp to Highway 77 at the Benton exit. Pratcher eventually stopped in the middle of 77, Walter said, and tried to run away on foot but was quickly captured by a sheriff's deputy.
Newman was also taken into custody on scene.
According to Walter, Pratcher's vehicle has been described as the suspect vehicle in numerous gasoline thefts in the area during the past week.