Kansas City area man arrested after highway chase in stolen school district van: police
A man was arrested early Monday after a police pursuit of a stolen passenger van belonging to the Blue Valley School District, according to the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
Orville D. Lund III, 34, of Lake Annette, faces charges of vehicle tampering and resisting arrest in Cass County Circuit Court, Major Kevin Tieman, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said in a statement Monday.
The van, a white Ford with the school district’s logo and abbreviation stenciled on the driver side, was reported stolen around 12:30 a.m. Another caller reported seeing the van driving erratically on Interstate 49 near Harrisonville a little more than two hours later.
A sheriff’s deputy saw the van near the intersection of East 231st and 291 Highway and began following. Shortly after, according to police, the deputy tried to stop the van but Lund sped away.
As the van was chased, police say Lund drove in the opposite direction of traffic along the divided 291 Highway. The Lee’s Summit Police Department, which assisted with the apprehension, placed a device in the roadway to blow the van’s tires, causing it to come to a stop.
Police arrested Lund after a foot pursuit. Lund is being held in the Cass County Jail on a $7,500 cash-only bond, the sheriff’s office said.
Lund has previous convictions of resisting arrest, illegal firearm possession, forgery and tampering with a motor vehicle, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
