Winfield Man Is Arrested After Car Ends Up In Walnut River Monday

Those telltale sounds of an engine revving, followed by a big splash, led Winfield Police Monday to a pair accused of sending a stolen car into the Walnut River.

Around 2 a.m., police were called to the Winfield Fairgrounds to investigate suspicious activity near the river. With the Cowley County Fair going on, there was an officer very nearby, working overnight duty at the fair.

“I’m not sure what they were thinking,” Winfield Police Lt. Chad Gordon said of the suspects. “They’d have had to have driven by several campers. Maybe they thought everyone was sleeping. I don’t know.”

Not everyone was sleeping, and the activity of the suspects immediately roused suspicions. Witnesses nearby watched as the car was driven to an area where the river bends just north of 14th Ave. They heard the intense revving and watched the car go into the river.

Witnesses called police, who arrived very quickly and found the two suspects that had been described.

Police worked with B&L Auto towing service and the Winfield Fire Dept. to locate the vehicle, which was fully submerged. The 2008 Ford Focus was removed from the water after a time and that’s when police learned it had been reported stolen out of Ark City.

19-year-old Jonathan Berry, of Winfield, was booked into the county jail on a count of criminal damage to property. He remained in jail Tuesday. A 16-year-old juvenile male was cited and released.

Lt. Gordon said Ark City police are continuing to investigate and determine the circumstances of the car theft.