A Salina man who is accused of wrecking two stolen vehicles and snapping a power pole near a grade school is in jail.

According to Police Captain Paul Forrester, 20-year-old Zachary McKay was arrested after a high speed pursuit that began with events linked back to early Monday morning. Police say around 6:40am McKay jumped into a Chevy Impala the owner had left warming up in 1600 block of Beverly.

About two hours later he crashed the Impala in the 900 block of Birch Street – and then stole a 1997 Ford F350 with a white box trailer on the hitch.

A call from the truck’s owner gave police the information they needed to locate McKay in the Ford after he had dropped the trailer.

Officers attempted to pull him over in the 900 block of Pearl but he sped away, smashing a 2017 Toyota Camry as he passed and headed west on Republic running three red lights and a stop sign before hitting a telephone box and an Evergy power pole on Cherokee. The power outage caused the closure of Sunset Elementary School for the day.

McKay was finally taken into custody after he ran from the scene and was handcuffed by police in the 1000 block of Apache.

He is now facing multiple charges that could include felony theft, criminal trespass, reckless driving, speeding, leaving the scene of an accident and driving on a suspended license.

Investigators are still tallying the thousands of dollars in loss and damage in the case.