A high speed chase from Clive to Knoxville to Indianola has left one man dead and a five-year-old child injured.
Police say the chase began in Clive around 2:45 a.m. Friday and ended when the driver crashed into a police vehicle on East 2nd Street in Indianola after running over stop sticks.
The driver of the squad car escaped just before his vehicle was hit.
Police say the driver of the silver Volkswagen Passat, Jeremiah Johnson, 33, reached 140 miles per hour. He did on the scene. The child was taken to Blank Children's Hospital.
Officers did not know a child was in the vehicle until they approached the car after the crash and heard him crying. The child was reported to Des Moines police as a missing/endangered child in December 2012.
Last month, Johnson was pulled over by an officer in Gwinnett County, Ga. After the officer ran his information, Johnson sped away. A chase ensued with his son in the car. The officer lost contact as Johnson entered another county.
That led to a warrant out of his arrest for fleeing attempting to elude law enforcement, two counts of obstruction of justice, reckless driving, cruelty to a child - second degree, and obedience to a required traffic control device.
Johnson's son's mother was given full custody of the child last summer. Johnson, who had his son at the time, never returned him. The mother's last known address was in Kansas.
Georgia officials believe Johnson may have been suicidal or homicidal. He was most recently living in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Police say his father still lives in Des Moines.
Several law enforcement agencies including the Iowa State Patrol, Warren County and Indianola Police were involved today.
