Man sentenced for high-speed chase

By Ronica Shannon
Register News Writer

December 12, 2008 09:22 pm

— An Estill County man was sentenced Thursday in Madison Circuit Court to five years imprisonment for leading police on a high-speed chase and damaging two police cruisers.
James Cahal, 43, of Ravenna, fled from an Estill County sheriff’s deputy July 27 after the officer suspected Cahal of driving while intoxicated, Kentucky State Police Trooper Chris Lanham said.
“He clearly just made very poor judgment and kept on going with it,” said Cahal’s attorney Valetta Browne. “He couldn’t imagine stopping because it would have made matters worse.
Cahal will serve five years for first-degree fleeing and evading, first-degree wanton endangerment of a police officer and two counts of first-degree criminal mischief.
After fleeing from the sheriff’s deputy, Cahal then accelerated in speed and Estill County officers initiated a vehicle pursuit and asked for assistance from other agencies.
As Cahal crossed into Madison County and onto the Robert R. Martin Bypass, local units were called in to assist, including officers from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, the Richmond Police Department and KSP.
“The subject was first noticed in the Moberly area traveling at 92 miles per hour,” court documents stated. “Cahal was operating dangerously, passing vehicles in the emergency lane and reaching speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.”
Cahal refused to stop, traveling from the bypass onto US 25 north.
“Cahal struck a Richmond Police Department cruiser at the intersection of 25 and Jacks Creek Road,” said Lanham, public information officer for the KSP Post 7 in Richmond.
This was the second of two police cruisers from Richmond’s police fleet that Cahal damaged during his run, Lanham said.
As Cahal attempted to travel west on Jacks Creek, KSP Trooper Philip Powell pulled a strategic maneuver that finally stopped Cahal’s vehicle.
“Powell performed a pit maneuver,” Lanham said, describing a technique of fishtailing a suspect’s vehicle in a last-ditch effort to stop their getaway. “It’s a pretty standard maneuver. Sometimes you have time to lay down spike strips or other devices, but not in this case.”
Cahal eventually had to be removed from his vehicle by using force, police said.
While police were trying to get him from the vehicle, he was resisting arrest and police used pepper spray to subdue him, police said.
He was lodged in the Madison County Detention Center on July 28 with a $20,000 cash bond.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.