Staff report
A man who led police on a chase from Starke’s Market Road to a riverbed near Union Correctional Institution was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Edwin Elisha Baker, 35, pleaded to aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, felony fleeing and eluding, driving with a suspended or revoked license, resisting an officer, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.
According to an arrest report, Starke police Sergeant Frank W. Krol met the buyer of a side-by-side at the eastern end of Market Road. The victim told the officer that the off-road vehicle turned out to be stolen, and Baker County deputies confiscated it. While Krol and the victim were talking, the victim pointed out the defendant’s truck, which was approaching the pair. Krol reported that he tried to flag down the truck, but the driver sped up and nearly hit him. Krol and other officers chased Baker to the Union County line, where they lost him after the defendant drove into the woods. Tracking dogs eventually located Baker in a creek bed near the Union County prison.
