A car that had been pursued by police Feb. 6 ran through a yard in the 600 block of Sunshine Drive in Festus, leaving behind a stolen handgun, suspected illicit drugs and a piece of the car, Crystal City Police Capt. Mike Pruneau said.
The chase began on Bailey Road in Crystal City, but the officer stopped pursuit when the car, a 2002 Nissan, went west through a residential neighborhood behind Sacred Heart Catholic Church at a high rate of speed toward Festus.
“Two minutes later Festus gets a call for leaving the scene in the 600 block of Sunshine,” Pruneau said. “He’d run off the road, left a plastic shroud and also left a stolen 9 mm handgun stolen and 30 grams of meth near where he’d run off.”
Half an hour later, Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies found the vehicle abandoned at Niagara Falls Court west of Festus.
The car was missing a piece of plastic that matched the piece recovered in the yard on Sunshine Drive. The vehicle was licensed to a Crystal City woman who is not a suspect, Pruneau said.
Police are looking for an 18-year-old Crystal City man and an 18-year-old Festus man who were identified by witnesses to the chase.
“Once lab results come back (on the drugs in the yard), we’ll apply for warrants,” Pruneau said.