OHIO STATE TROOPER STRUCK BY DRUNK DRIVER

A village of Minster man is in the Shelby County Jail today after hitting a Piqua state trooper with his vehicle and attempting to flee, said Sgt. Paul Weber of the Ohio Highway Patrol. The Piqua post received telephone calls after midnight about a drunk driver traveling along Interstate 75, north of Dayton, Weber said.

Trooper Steve Tharp at 12:29 a.m. caught up with the vehicle, stopped in the right lane of the interstate with the driver "passed out" at the wheel, Weber said. As Tharp walked around the front of the car to approach the passenger side of the vehicle, the driver, Auglaize County resident Kurt W. Niekamp, 38, sped off, striking Tharp's right leg, Weber said.

He said authorities caught up with Niekamp four minutes later in the village of Anna in Shelby County. Niekamp resisted arrest, Weber said. He was charged with the felonies of fleeing and eluding and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and booked into jail. Tharp suffered bruising but refused medical treatment, Weber said.