Man leads police on chase through southern Jefferson City

Jefferson City police arrested Leslie Austin, 33, after he led police on a chase through the southern portion of the city Saturday morning.

Police told ABC 17 they received a call around 11 a.m. about a domestic assault that occurred in the 1100 block of East Atchison. The 29-year-old victim told police at the scene that her boyfriend assaulted her before driving away with their 6-year-old daughter.

While police questioned the victim, she received a phone call from Austin. Police told ABC 17 the conversation started to escalate as the woman negotiated the return of her daughter. Eventually, police said he made specific threats that if police got involved, “he would kill officers” and told the woman she “would never see her daughter again.”

Soon after, Cole County deputies spotted Austin’s vehicle in a commuter parking lot in Taos where the chase began.

Sergeant Steve Dappen told ABC 17 the chase went through Route M, Route B and into Jefferson City limits before ending at the Salvation Army parking lot on Jefferson Street.

Austin got out of his vehicle and charged at officers who had their guns drawn, asking to be shot. One of the officers used a taser to take him down.

Austin remains in the Cole County jail tonight after being arrested on charges of domestic assault, endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest and assault on a law enforcement officer.

ABC 17 confirmed with police that Austin served time for incidents prior to the chase. In fact, police say he has a 17-page criminal history, listing charges for domestic assault in Cole County from the beginning of this year and two other charges in Illinois, including aggravated battery and aggravated battery of a child.

The child was not harmed in the chase and is back with her mother.