BOURBON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — According to an arrest citation from the Paris Police Department, they responded to a call that a truck was driving towards East Main Street at a high rate of speed with no lights on October 16 around 1:00 a.m.
The responding officers tried to initiate a stop but led the officer on a pursuit.
Once the vehicle pulled over on North Middletown, the two officers approached the vehicle and said the male driver appeared to have a strong odor of alcohol.
The arrest citation says that the man's eyes were bloodshot, and his speech was slurred.
According to the officers, the man refused to answer their questions and refused to step out of the vehicle after they noticed a case of beer sitting beside him.
When the officers proceeded to pull him out of the truck, he stepped on the gas, and one of the officers was dragged with the truck.
The citation says the pursuit resumed, and a third officer took the lead.
According to officers, the man kept braking to try and cause a wreck with the officers, along with throwing the beer cans out the window.
The suspect then slowed down and pulled into a driveway but then rammed the police cruisers in an attempt to flee again.
One officer was out of his vehicle when the suspect reversed into the cruiser, could not move out of the way, and fired his weapon into the back windshield.
The citation says that the suspect then attempted to drive forward through the cars where another officer was standing, and that's when the officer fired his weapon through the front windshield.
Officers say the suspect then slumped down, and the vehicle came to a stop.
As the officers pulled the man out of the truck, he was still fighting but was then handcuffed.
According to the citation, officers then started first aid on the suspect.
Police identified the man as 24-year-old Dante' A Ybarbo.
While giving first aid, police say that Ybarbo kept saying, "Suicide by cop."
According to the arrest citation, an officer asked why he said that, and his reply was, "I wanted to be with my brother." The officer asked if Ybarbo's brother was deceased, and he said, "Yes, mission failed."
Due to Ybarbo's injuries, officers could not perform a field sobriety test and said they would subpoena his blood results from UK Hospital where he was transported.
The citation says Ybarbo was released from the hospital and taken to the Bourbon County Jail.
He is facing the following charges:
- first-degree wanton endangerment of a police officer
- first-degree assault of a police officer
- first-degree criminal mischief
- second-degree criminal mischief
- resisting arrest
- first-degree fleeing or evading police in a motor vehicle
- reckless driving
- first-degree operating a motor vehicle under the influence
The police department has asked the Kentucky State Police to oversee the investigation.
