Drivers attempting to flee stop get busted by Republic PD

Suspects arrested after allegedly attempting to outrun cops in separate incidents through town
Two people are facing charges after allegedly attempting to flee the Republic Police Department when officers tried to pull them over in two different instances. Kaitlyn Morrison, 18, of Republic, and Vinson Patrom, 36, of Marshfield, are each charged with aggravated fleeing a stop. Patrom faces an additional charge of leaving the scene of an accident.
Patrom:
Patrom allegedly attempted to evade a Republic police officer on Monday, March 17. According to the probable cause statement, the officer reported he noticed a driver, later identified as Patrom, failing to maintain a single lane while driving westward on U.S. Highway 60. When he maneuvered his squad car behind Patrom, the officer said, Patrom attempted to evade him by switching lanes. At U.S. 60 and Hamilton, he made a U-turn and traveled east on U.S. 60, before making another U-turn at the intersection of U.S. 60 and Republic Road and began traveling back westward on U.S. 60.
Eventually, the officer said, Patrom turned into the Walmart parking lot. Another Republic officer attempted to block Patrom’s flight with his squad car, but Patrom drove around him, allegedly striking the front of the squad car as he did so.
The officer reported that Patrom drove onto Independence Road and then onto U.S. 60, where he again traveled west before going through a parking lot and then a residential neighborhood while making multiple directional changes to evade law enforcement.
Patrom eventually reached P highway and headed south, the officer said, and threw items out of his car as he drove.  He eventually came to a stop at a driveway in Clever and attempted to run into a house. Three Republic officers pursued him inside where he was tased and eventually put into handcuffs.
In a post-Miranda interview, Patrom allegedly admitted to smoking marijuana and using “a shot” of alcohol. He also reportedly said that the items he threw out of his car were marijuana, and he did so because he was “freaking out.”
Patrom has six prior felony convictions in Greene County. According to the criminal complaint in the case, he was found guilty of two counts of vehicle tampering on Aug. 9, 2021, first-degree property damage and first-degree unlawful use of a weapon on May 10, 2018, and second-degree domestic assault, second-degree assault, first-degree motor vehicle tampering and forgery on June 5, 2014. Because of his prior convictions, he is being charged as a prior and persistent offender, meaning he can be sentenced in the range of higher felonies if he is convicted.
Patrom is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, April 1, for a criminal setting hearing. As of press time, he remained in custody in the Greene County Jail.

Morrison:
Morrison allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop on Oct. 20, 2024, after she reportedly failed to complete a stop at the intersection of Main and Grant Streets. A Republic police officer reported the vehicle she was driving was traveling 76 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone while straddling the north and southbound lanes on Main Street.
When the officer attempted to pull over the vehicle, he said, the car slowed down, but then it accelerated. It reached the intersection of Highway 174 and went east until it reached U.S. 60, at which point it headed west; an attempt to deploy stop sticks was unsuccessful.
As the chase went into Billings, the officer reported, the driver threw a large white baggie out the driver’s window, and another one two minutes later.
The chase ended on a dirt road in Aurora when Morrison lost control of the vehicle on the road, the officer said, and then drove through a fence and struck a tree, rendering the car inoperable.
During the chase, which the officer said lasted about 21-and-a-half miles, the car reached a maximum speed of 116 miles per hour.
In a post-Miranda interview, Morrison allegedly told the officer that she didn’t stop because “He (her male passenger) has warrants, and I’m as high as (expletive), and I didn’t want to stop.” She also allegedly told the officer that she was trying to find someplace to hide.
The officer reported that the two bags Morrison allegedly threw from the vehicle left a white powdery substance on his vehicle which later field-tested as positive for methamphetamine.
Morrison was booked into the Greene County Jail on Monday, March 17, and appeared in court on Monday, March 24, for a confined docket hearing. As of press time, she remained in custody.