Christopher R. Grant, 38, Sullivan, remains jailed in Franklin County following a police pursuit Saturday which began in Owensville and ended with him crashing on Highway 28 near Rosebud.

Owensville police patrolman Josh Smith was on a business  check of the local Walmart parking lot around 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16 when he spotted a 2005 Cadillac STS with a “forged license plate tab.” 

Smith activated his emergency lights and siren and attempted to pull the SUV-style vehicle over on the store’s property.

“He just fled,” said Smith.

Although the vehicle was titled to Grant, police said the car was not registered and the reflective license tab was not valid nor were the license plates.

Grant, who had a warrant out for his arrest from a July 2020 third-degree domestic assault case in Franklin County, left the parking lot and headed toward Rosebud at “high speed” on Highway 28 with Smith in pursuit.

One mile west of the U.S. 50  and Highway 28 junction, Grant entered a curve at a high rate of speed and lost control of the car, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s report of the crash reported at 7:43 p.m.

Trooper B.R. Lange’s report notes Grant’s car skidded, went off the left side of the road, struck a driveway, and overturned. The car came to a rest on its top in the roadway.

Grant, who has a 2008 conviction for resisting arrest by fleeing, was transported by ambulance to Mercy Hospital Washington. After a “fit for confinement” examination, he was transported to the Franklin County Adult Detention Center on the outstanding warrant from Franklin County’s Division 7 court. Bond is set at $4,000 cash or surety.

Owensville police were in the process of applying for warrants seeking charges for resisting arrest by fleeing and for the forged license tab.

Grant is scheduled to appear in Franklin County court on Feb. 16 for arraignment on a class D felony possession of a controlled substance case from March 2019. Those proceedings have been delayed at least twice in April and May of 2020 due to COVID-19 edicts placed on county courts by the Missouri Supreme Court. Court records indicate Grant was indicted by a grand jury in that case brought by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. He had previously received a three-year prison term for the August 2008 resisting arrest case brought in Crawford County by Cuba police.