Car chased by the Seneca police turns out stolen

A late Friday night chase by the Seneca police of an SUV ended in the nearby Utica Community with the arrest of the driver and the filing of five criminal charges. Police records this afternoon identify the man arrested in the vicinity of Utica’s Gammell Street as Greenville and Laurens area resident Joseph Edward Kinsel. Twenty-six years old and a resident of the city of Fountain Inn, Kinsel was lodged in the Oconee jail on charges including possession of methamphetamine and possession of stolen vehicle. According to the police, an officer saw a moving Chevy Blazer with no lights that narrowly avoided a collision with another car on W-S 4th Street. The pursuit ended when the SUV went off Gammell Street and hit a tree, and the driver ran into the backyard of a home. After checking NCIC—the National Crime Information Center—the police say they determined the Chevy Blazer had been reported stolen in Westminster.