A high speed chase in Pike County ends with the suspect ramming a police cruiser several times. Now a man is behind bars and facing several felony charges.

Police say 28 year old Joshua Meade is facing assault and wanton endangerment, along with several other charges, after ramming a cruiser and putting the deputy's life in danger Saturday night.

It started because no registration plates on the back of Joshua Meade's jeep. That's when police say Deputy Gary Pigg started the pursuit.

"He activated his lights and tried to stop the person driving the jeep and he failed to do so," says Sheriff Charles "Fuzzy" Keesee.

Police say Joshua Meade took off through the Belcher community. Meade lead the officer on to Middlefield Fork, then onto an old coal mining road, and they say that's where he put the officer's life in danger.

Up on the strip job, police say Meade hit Pigg's cruiser several times, pushing him into a ditch line, causing major damage to the car and threatening the officer's safety. All the red paint shows the multiple places Meade's jeep hit the cruiser. But the pursuit did not stop there.

Keesee says, "I think the officer did have to pursue him on foot, because he jumped out of the vehicle and abandoned it."

Police say Meade kicked the officer before he was finally arrested. "This is the type of thing that we caution our officers to try to avoid these things, but sometimes they are unavoidable," says Keesee.

Joshua Meade is behind bars on a $15,000 cash bond. Pike County sheriff's deputy Gary Pigg is doing fine. The sheriff says he was not injured during the incident.