Stop sticks used to end chase
Escapee flees police in stolen vehicle
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

A female who escaped from the booking room at the Ripley County Jail, will face much more serious charges than the ones she was being booked in on - public intoxication and resisting law enforcement.

About 8:10 p.m. Sunday, November 28, April M. Pursifull of Rising Sun, was being booked into the Ripley County Jail. In the process of booking, Pursifull was able to free herself from the handcuffs that had her secured to a bench and find her way to a short lived freedom by exiting through an unsecured door at the north end of the facility, according to information from the Ripley County Sheriff's Department.

Immediately upon Pursifull's escape, police searched the Versailles area without much luck. Then about forty minutes later at 8:50 p.m. a resident of Versailles reported a purple 1993 Honda Civic had been stolen.

A dispatch went out to area police agencies and at approximately 9:18 p.m. Aurora police located the stolen vehicle at US 50 & Cole Lane. The pursuit was on and continued through Dearborn, Ohio, and Switzerland counties, with many police agencies involved. The vehicle was stopped with the use of stop sticks on US 42 in Warsaw, Kentucky, where the driver, Pursifull was taken into custody and the 1993 Honda Civic recovered.

Pursifull, who was going to be initially held at the Ripley County Jail for Ohio County, is now incarcerated at the Carroll County Kentucky Detention Center on local charges there.

According to Ripley County Sheriff Bill Davison, charges of Escape and Auto Theft have been filed with the Ripley County Prosecutor's Office. She could also face additional charges in Dearborn, Ohio and Switzerland counties as well.

"Thanks to the cooperation of all the surrounding police agencies, the subject was apprehended quickly and without incident," concluded Captain David Pippin, Chief Deputy of the Ripley County Sheriff's Department.