KANSAS CITY • John Roth figures it was a bullet to the oil filter that killed his old Case IH combine and brought a slow-speed police chase to an otherwise peaceful end.

Officers fired 18 rounds into the farm implement, which was stolen Tuesday night from a cornfield east of Ellinwood in central Kansas. But not before the combine rammed two patrol cars, hit a parked pickup and damaged power poles as it attempted to elude officers at speeds approaching 20 mph.

“Since 1981 I’ve chased a lot of vehicles, but we’ve never chased a combine,” Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said.

A 37-year-old Ellinwood man was arrested on suspicion of several charges, but no formal charges had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon. Barton County prosecutor Doug Matthews said he anticipated that would happen soon.