A 27-year-old East Moline man is in custody after an Iowa State Trooper alleges he rammed the trooper’s cruiser head-on during a chase.
Kalin Hawkins faces felony charges of first-degree theft, first-degree criminal mischief, assault while participating in a felony, and eluding; an aggravated misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance; and a serious misdemeanor charge of operating while under the influence – first offense, court records say.
About 1:30 a.m. Sunday, an Iowa State Trooper initiated a traffic stop along with a Davenport Police Officer, according to affidavits.
The vehicle was a white Jeep Grand Cherokee with dark window tint and plates that returned as stolen out of Illinois and not returning to the SUV, affidavits say. When the officer initiated the traffic stop at Main Street and Harrison Street, he was in a fully marked Davenport Police cruiser and activated his emergency lights, and the trooper, in a fully marked Iowa State Patrol cruiser, also activated his emergency lights.
The SUV failed to come to a stop and accelerated south on Harrison Street, actively eluding law enforcement and increasing its speed in excess of 90 mph in a posted 35 mph zone. A pursuit ensued, during which the driver – Hawkins – committed several traffic infractions, including failure to obey a traffic control device, unsafe overtaking, unsafe turn, passing in a non-passing zone, improper lane usage, speeding in excess of 25 mph in a construction zone, and failure to use headlamps, according to affidavits.
Affidavits say the pursuit ended after the SUV struck the Iowa State Patrol cruiser. The trooper used the PIT (Pursuit Intervention Technique) maneuver to disable the SUV, but Hawkins continued to accelerate forward, running head-on into the cruiser, which caused more than $30,000 to both the cruiser and the Jeep.
Hawkins was taken into custody without issue. He smelled strongly of alcohol and marijuana, had bloodshot, watery eyes; a low, slow speech pattern; delayed response to simple questions; and had open containers of alcohol and marijuana inside the vehicle, affidavits say.
The SUV had been reported stolen out of Matteson, Ill., according to affidavits.
Hawkins was read his Miranda Rights and agreed to participate in the horizontal gaze nystagmus test with six resulting clues, affidavits say. Hawkins then refused to participate in any other tests but did admit to consuming alcohol earlier in the evening. He then refused to give a sample of his breath after being read his implied-consent advisory.
Hawkins, who is being held on $35,000 bond, is set for arraignment Dec. 8 in Scott County Court.
