Man Without Pants Endures Rough Sunday

Man without pants hits cruiser, gets Tasered

Leah Thorsen ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.

GRANITE CITY A pantless man led Granite City police on a chase Sunday afternoon that hit speeds of nearly 100 mph, authorities said Monday.

Arrested after the chase was Matthew Cooper, 26, of the 4000 block of Central Lane, Pontoon Beach. On Monday, Madison County prosecutors charged him with a felony, aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He was being held at the Granite City police station, with bond set at $25,000.

The incident began at 1 p.m. Sunday when Granite City police got a slew of calls that a man who was naked from the waist down was lying face-down in a pickup with the door open near the corner of East 21st Street and Edwardsville Road, said police Maj. Jeff Connor.

When officers approached, the pickup sped off. The chase began at low speeds but hit nearly 100 mph when the pickup drove on Illinois Route 3, Connor said.

When the pickup approached the closed McKinley Bridge, the driver tried to drive around a barricade, hit a squad car, went off on a dirt road and got stuck in mud, police said.

The pickup driver refused to get out of the truck, and officers used a Taser to subdue him, Connor said.

February 7, 2006