BEATRICE – Beatrice Police responding to the reported sound of a gunshot arrested a man following a pursuit, Monday morning.

Police were dispatched to the thirteen hundred block of North Pelham Street just before 7:30 a.m., where a vehicle was parked along the street and the reporting party heard a gunshot come from the area of the car.

Police responding saw a brown Pontiac Bonneville facing north on the southbound side of the street.  When officers activated their overhead lights on their patrol units, the Pontiac accelerated and turned west into a ditch, then onto Irving Street.

Police said the driver accelerated to 50 miles-per-hour in a 25-zone, running a stop sign at Ashland Avenue and turning north, without signaling.  The driver of a silver pickup swerved to avoid colliding with the Pontiac. 

The car then accelerated to an estimated 60 miles-per-hour in a 35-zone, turned west onto Shugart Street, drove through a side yard along Ashland Avenue, around a garage, then parked in the backyard of a residence where the driver resides.

Police arrested 41-year-old Justin Smick after he exited the car.  Authorities also found a knife with a seven-inch blade in the center console of the vehicle.  

Smick was arrested for possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, flight to avoid arrest and willful reckless driving.

Police said Smick was found guilty of felony assault of an officer, July 27th, of 2005. No evidence of a gunshot was found when police examined the area where the car had been parked.