A De Soto Police officer recently spotted a man driving a utility terrain vehicle without the headlights on and followed the vehicle a short distance before the driver pulled over and fled. The UTV had been stolen in De Soto, Capt. Jeffrey Wynn said.
The incident happened at about 5 a.m. Jan. 15, he said.
“An officer was in the area of North Second Street and Landsdowne Street when he observed a UTV traveling north in the 700 block of North Second Street without operating the headlights.” Wynn said. “The subject failed to stop until it got to North Main Street about a block and a half away.”
Then, the suspect got out of the UTV and ran away, Wynn said.
The officer described the man as white and 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8. He was dressed in heavy coveralls and a large winter coat and was wearing a red and black ski mask.
“He was wearing sports cleats,” Wynn added.
Police didn’t have a value for the 2021 CFMOTO UTV, which had been reported stolen from a home in the 700 block of North Second Street.
It appeared to have been “hotwired,” Wynn added.
He said the UTV was returned to the victim, a 48-year-old De Soto man.
As of Jan. 18, the department had not identified the suspect, Wynn said. He asks anyone with information to call De Soto Police at 636-586-8891.