ILLINOIS/KENTUCKY/INDIANA – A situation that sort of typifies the state of things in the Midwest emerged on deadline for the last issue of Disclosure and was so involved and arduous that it literally took about two days for all the media, the law and the courts in the area to sort it out.
But sort it out they did, and now, a Hamilton County (Illinois) man along with his female companion are facing charges in a couple of the counties where his actions put people in danger on May 14 in not one, not two, but three states (Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana), and eight counties within those states (including Illinois counties of Pope, Hardin, Saline and Gallatin) during what at times was termed a “slow-speed” chase but at other times reached high speeds…and endangered other motorists on very busy roadways.
Michael Robert Kennedy, 47, most recently of McLeansboro but showing previous addresses in Carrier Mills in Saline County as well as in locations in Indiana, is the guy who on the evening of that Monday was the subject of a traffic stop executed by Hardin County Deputy Donnie Vaughn.
With Kennedy was Sharmin Partridge, 48, currently showing a residence of Raleigh in Saline County.
Hardin County authorities said that the situation began there at not long after 6 p.m., when on patrol on Highway 146, Vaughn encountered a silver-on-silver 1991 Chevy half-ton 5-speed pickup, speeding.
Mike Kennedy, of McLeansboro, and Sharmin Partridge are showin in their arrest mugs courtesy Vanderburgh County, Indiana, where the two were finally nabbed after being chased from Illinois and Kentucky.
Vaughn also had reason to believe that the driver was impaired, so he turned around and activated lights in an attempt to pull over the driver of the Chevy.
The driver – Kennedy, as it turned out – continued traveling 146 westbound until he crossed the county line into Pope, but eventually pulled over for the deputy.
Before Vaughn even got out of the squad to approach the truck, however, Kennedy apparently decided he didn’t wish to comply and instead, revved the truck back up, spun around and rammed into the front passenger side of the squad, damaging the squad extensively.
Kennedy then took off, back into Hardin on 146.
Vaughn had already notified dispatch and Sheriff JT Fricker, whose residence wasn’t far from the location of the ramming, arrived quickly to pick up Vaughn as his squad was disabled. Fricker noted that while Vaughn was “jarred” by the impact of the squad being struck (it was hit so hard that the tie rod broke), he was okay and the two joined the growing number of officers who were responding to what was now being considered a pursuit out of Pope and Hardin (up Highway 34 to the north) into Saline County.
In Saline County, Kennedy’s vehicle was losing parts on the road, Fricker noted, apparently from the impact, but the truck just kept on going.
“That truck looked like a turd,” Fricker told Disclosure, “but it still had something in it.”
In Saline County, Kennedy, trailing police officers of every sort behind him, picked up a few more when he headed east on 13 and into Gallatin. That county’s deputies and Shawneetown city police joined in the chase, which proceeded across the Ohio River Bridge and into Union County, Kentucky.
“We stayed on Route 56 through Kentucky, and into Webster County, then Henderson County,” Fricker said. Kentucky State Police and the various county deputies joined the procession in that state, which then continued across the Ohio River bridge on Highway 41 crossing from Henderson, Kentucky, into Evansville, Indiana.
Stop sticks had been suggested to be put in positions at other locations along the route, but either they weren’t executed properly due to other traffic in the area, or Kennedy was able to evade them (“It’s like he’d done this before,” Fricker said of Kennedy’s inexplicable expert driving abilities while allegedly under the influence), but Kennedy couldn’t be stopped…until Evansville Police and/or Vanderburgh County managed to get “road restrictions” out on 41 (effectively, they narrowed the road down by blocking it with police vehicles), and at that point, unable to squeeze through even with his expert driving abilities, Kennedy was forced off the roadway and wrecked in Evansville city limits.
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Even then, it’s reported that Kennedy was belligerent and struggled with officers, but both he and Partridge were taken into custody.
The chase, having gone through Illinois counties of Pope, Hardin, Saline and Gallatin, then in Kentucky, Union, Webster and Henderson counties and, finally, in Indiana’s Vanderburgh County near U.S. 41 and Interstate 69, ended after about an hour.
Kennedy is facing Vanderburgh County charges of Operating Motor While Intoxicated, Resisting Law Enforcement, Driving While License Suspended With Prior Suspension, and Reckless Driving (at unreasonably high or low speed so as to endanger safety); he’s being held on no bond there, something that wouldn’t be possible in Illinois, as each of those charges are low-level offenses and, with Bond Reform, he might’ve been released on his own recognizance (an OR bond, for which the suspect doesn’t have to post any money).
Partridge is facing only a Vanderburgh County misdemeanor of Possession of Marijuana; it appears there are no other charges pending against her in either Illinois or Kentucky.
However, in Illinois, Kennedy is facing Hardin County charges of two counts of Criminal Damage to Government Supported Property, for allegedly driving his Chevy truck into Vaughn’s county squad car twice, doing $500-$10,000 in damage.
He also faces a single count of Aggravated Fleeing or Attempting to Elude a Peace Officer in Hardin for willfully failing to obey lights and siren to stop and traveling 21 mph above the posted speed limit.
And lastly in Hardin, Kennedy is charged with Driving Revoked.
Cash bond in the Hardin County case was set $3,500.
In Saline, Kennedy is facing the offense of Aggravated Fleeing or Attempting to Elude Police after authorities say he drove the truck at a high rate of speed (21 mph over the legal speed limit) on Highway 13 near College Road, in Saline County, while fleeing and attempting to elude Sgt. Nathan Moore of Harrisburg Police Department, after he had been given signals, via lights and siren, to pull over.
There was no bond information available in the Saline case.
Nothing has been filed in Pope nor Gallatin County; Kentucky charges, if there are any, were unavailable.
At the time of the chase, Kennedy was awaiting trial in Illinois in a March 19, 2018, Hamilton County felony case, in which he is charged with Driving Revoked.
His extensive Illinois criminal history includes a March 1, 2011 conviction in Franklin County for Battery, which earned him a sentence of conditional discharge for 12 months and cost him $898.75 in fines and fees.
A Franklin County conviction April 4, 2012 for Possession of a Stolen Vehicle earned him a sentence to probation for 30 months and cost him another $3,895 in fines and fees.
A July 3, 2013 conviction in Franklin for Domestic Battery resulted in a sentence to probation for 18 months. Kennedy was ordered to shell out another $907 in fines and fees in that case.
And a Franklin County conviction July 30, 2014 for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol garnered him a sentence of court supervision for 24 months.
He was also ordered to obtain alcohol treatment and to fork over another $2,093 in fines and fees, of which he still owes $433.75.
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