GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay man is facing several charges after he tried to get away from the cops earlier this month.
24-year-old Mckenna D. Chentis is charged with 4 counts, including attempting to flee or elude an officer and felony bail jumping. All counts have repeater enhancers.
According to the criminal complaint, Green Bay police were surveilling in the area of the 1700 block of Western Avenue after getting tips that Chentis and another man were there. Both had outstanding felony warrants.
Just before 4 p.m. on Sunday February 14, police saw a vehicle connected with the felons leave a parking lot heading westbound on Western Avenue. The car, with 3 people inside, was trying to be pulled over by police for what they believed was “high risk” because those inside the car were known to run/fight and resist arrest.
The car turned south and was speeding towards W. Mason Street. Police were following the car as it turned onto the ramp for northbound I-41. The car was monitored as it exited off of I-41 onto Shawano Avenue and headed east.
Cops activated their emergency lights and sirens directly behind the suspect’s car. The car then started to pull over, but then went around a vehicle slowing down. A squad car got alongside the speeding vehicle, the officer saw the driver look at him as he motioned for the suspect to pull over. The squad car pulled back behind the vehicle, and while it didn’t speed up, it wasn’t pulling over either.
Officers believed the driver was looking for a place to pull over out of traffic to starting the foot getaway. The car turned south on Taylor Street and then immediately turned left onto Badger Street. The driver of the car slowed down, pulled over to the right and stopped on Badger Street, then got out and looked back at the cop as he ran to the south towards the railroad tracks which paralleled Western Ave.
The man ran across a parking lot, and one officer began chasing him on foot. The cop slipped on the icy, snow-covered parking lot and scraped his right knee, injuring himself while ripping his pants. The officer got up and kept chasing the suspect, who was heading south to the railroad tracks and jumped a fence heading east in the backyards of Western Avenue.
Another officer was able to track the man through the snow back towards his residence on Western Avenue. The man was eventually caught on Wedgewood Drive and identified as Mckenna Chentis. The cop who caught him was having a hard time breathing. When Chentis was asked if he was having trouble breathing because he had been running a lot, he said, “Yes.”
Police also interviewed one of the passengers of the car. Officers were told that she was picked up at her place by a man she knew as “Kenna”. She said she met Kenna through some older friends and that they hung out a few times. Around 1 p.m. that day, she was picked up they went back to his place. She said they left shortly afterward and went to Motel 6, where he went into a room and left her in the car. When they left Motel 6, they went to a gas station before going back to Kenna’s place.
They were supposed to be going to the mall, when Kenna told her he was being followed. Per the complaint, she said she told him he was just “Trippin,” and that there was nobody following them. She said when they got to W. Mason, she saw two marked police cars. Kenna then told her that he was going to get pulled over and turned onto the highway. She said she knew Kenna saw and heard the sirens, and she begged him to pull over or stop so she could get out. Kenna told her he would pull over, and when he did he took off running.
In July 2015, Mckenna Chentis was charged with felony bail jumping as a repeater, criminal trespass to a dwelling as a repeater and obstructing, repeater. Then 4 months later, Chentis was convicted of possession of THC – 2nd offense.
Chentis is due back in court Thursday for his preliminary hearing. If convicted on all counts, Chentis faces more than 20 years in prison.
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