Police chase ends in east Columbia crash

Columbia police arrested a man wanted on suspicion of assault out of eastern Missouri after a chase along Highway 63 and Interstate 70 early Wednesday afternoon.

The chase and crash happened around noon when law enforcement working from a tip found Ted N. Treece in south Columbia. A chase ensued, going north on Highway 63 and onto I-70 before the driver of the blue Nissan Altima lost control and hit a guardrail on St. Charles Road just off the interstate.

Columbia Police Department Lt. Lance Bolinger said Treece was wanted on warrants for assault and armed criminal action out of Jefferson County and had made threats to the sheriff’s office there. Treece and a passenger had minor injuries.

“At the end of the day no one was hurt, the injuries to the passenger minor, the injuries to the driver really are minor,” Bolinger said at the scene. “He’s going (to the hospital) for precautionary reasons, so at the end of the day no one was injured in it … and a violent subject who was unstable is off the streets.”

Treece was accused of shooting a man in the hand with a crossbow and shooting at him with a gun after a dispute in Jefferson County, Bolinger said, and police considered him armed. Officers found a small amount of ammunition in the car, Bolinger said.

The argument started when Treece accused another man of putting sugar in his gas tank, according to a probable cause statement. The man said he saw Treece looking through the windows of his home with a flashlight after Treece tried to shoot him, according to the statement.

Treece was arrested July 19 and bonded out of jail Aug. 18, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Gary Higginbotham said. He made threats after returning to the department two days later to get some of his belongings, Higginbotham said. Treece’s bond was revoked because of the threat, Higgenbotham said, and authorities tracked him to Columbia because he was wearing an ankle monitor.

Bolinger later said Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies immediately took Treece back to eastern Missouri after he was treated.

The passenger in the vehicle, who identified himself as Derek McCarty, said he is friends with the driver and is cooperating with police.

Columbia police led the pursuit but the Boone County Sheriff’s Department helped by keeping traffic out of the path of the chase, Bolinger said. Authorities also used a helicopter to track the suspect, he said.

ABC 17 had earlier sent a reporter to a home near Buttonwood and Gray Oak drives Wednesday morning after receiving a tip of several law enforcement officers at the address. The reporter observed officers at the scene, but they put on bulletproof vests and left quickly.

The chase followed a short time later.