A 56-year-old man faces felony charges after allegedly dragging a McLeod County Sheriff’s deputy with his car Monday.

Jerry Dean Burt, of Olivia, was charged June 20 with second-degree assault and fleeing a police officer.

At 8:04 p.m. on June 18, the McLeod County sheriff’s dispatch put the word out that Olivia police had issued a “pick up and hold” order on Burt for alleged gross misdemeanor domestic assault.

Burt was reportedly headed east on U.S. Highway 212 in a 1997 GMC Suburban. K-9 officer Deputy Jennifer Mueller spotted the Suburban and stopped it at 8:15 p.m. near the intersection of Highway 212 and Walden Avenue.

She approached the vehicle and confirmed the driver’s identity.

“He was kind of agitated right away from the beginning,” she said. She asked Burt to turn the vehicle off, and he complied.

Mueller repeatedly asked Burt to get out of the vehicle, as she waited for backup. Once backup arrived, she told Burt he was under arrest.

Mueller said Burt opened the door as if to get out, then seemed to change his mind. He reached for the ignition key to start up the Suburban, and Mueller tried to stop him. While she was reaching across Burt, he slammed his door on her and sped off.

Mueller was dragged about 20 to 25 feet along the highway before she was knocked to the ground.

Mueller’s in-car camera video shows she was dragged for about six seconds. Another deputy chased after her on foot while Jake, her K-9 partner, barked furiously from inside the squad car.

Mueller said she didn’t have time to hit the remote release to let Jake out before she was dragged away.

“I just wanted to get to the ground and stop moving,” she said.

She fell to the pavement, landing on her head. “I must have a hard head,” she joked. Mueller reports her injuries included a few scrapes and a bump on her head.

Mueller hopped back in her squad car and joined other units in pursuit of the Suburban, at speeds in excess of 100 mph, for about three miles.

Burt pulled over near Tagus Avenue, exited his vehicle and yelled at the deputies to end his life. He ignored multiple orders to get down on the ground, before deputies subdued him with a taser.

He was taken into custody, treated for injuries at Glencoe Regional Health Services, then taken to the McLeod County Jail. Burt is being held on $20,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond.

Mueller drove herself to the emergency room at Hutchinson Community Hospital, where she was treated for injuries and released.

“I woke up sore today,“ Mueller said Wednesday afternoon. “I’m lucky God was watching over me that night. I’d like to go back to work tonight. I need to get back to a routine and normalcy and just keep doing my job.”

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)