A Karns City man's alleged proclivity toward flight rather than fight allegedly forced state police to chase him through the woods to make an arrest.

“When (a fellow trooper) approached, I could hear movement coming from the outside of the residence,” said the investigating officer in court documents. “I subsequently observed a white male fleeing on foot into the woods.”

After the pursuit Wednesday afternoon, police arrested Edge W. Kerry, 28, after chasing him from his Hooker Road home, according to charging documents. Following his arrest, he was charged with one felony count of fleeing from an officer and one misdemeanor count of possessing a controlled substance.

District Judge Lewis Stoughton arraigned Kerry the same day and placed him in Butler County Prison on a combined bond of $50,000, one half for the charges filed Wednesday and the other related to the arrest warrant officers were serving.

Police said they had arrived around 1 p.m. at the home because they were serving an arrest warrant for charges filed July 1. Those charges included a felony count of fleeing from police, stemming from a June 26 traffic stop.

Police said Kerry did not struggle once police closed in on him, and eventually surrendered when they got within 10 feet of him.

“Kerry advised that he had heroin in his possession,” police said. “Several stamp bags containing suspected heroin were located on Kerry's person.”

A preliminary hearing for Kerry's charges issued Wednesday will be held Aug. 17 before Stoughton, the same time and place as his hearing on his July 1 charges.

In the earlier case, Kerry is accused of forcing state police to chase him by vehicle, failing to stop for officers for a traffic stop.

According to charging documents in that case, police first saw Kerry's vehicle around 5:04 p.m. June 26 at the intersection of Hazlett and Hooker roads.

“I pursued the suspect's vehicle until it crashed on Bell Road in Concord Township,” police said. “By the time I arrived on scene, the suspect had fled on foot in an unknown direction of travel.”

Police said inside the vehicle they found a loaded revolver, numerous stamp bags and other forms of drug paraphernalia. Police said all of these items were in plain view.

“While conducting the search, I located a black leather wallet containing multiple debit cards as well as the DUI suspended driver's license of the defendant, Edge W. Kerry,” police said.

In addition to fleeing, Kerry is also charged with misdemeanors of unlawfully carrying a gun, possessing drug paraphernalia and two counts of possessing a controlled substance as well as a number of traffic citations accrued in the alleged chase.