Pilot Aiding Police Pursuit Shot

Lands Safely After Suspect's 'Lucky' Shot From Ground Grazes Head

(AP) 
Spicer said the shot was fired from a handgun, believed to be a .44 Magnum, and that it was "just lucky" that it hit the plane, which he estimated was several hundred feet in the air.

"After he shot us, he got up and ran toward the trees," Spicer said.

The plane began to drop, and Knoettgen reached over and pulled back on the stick while Spicer pushed in the throttle for a climbing turn to head back to the airport. Spicer also pushed his hooded sweatshirt against the 3-inch gash in his head, trying to stem the heavy flow of blood.

"I knew I had been hit in the head, but I couldn't feel anything," Spicer said. "That's what really scared me."

Both men kept telling each other they were OK, although Spicer admitted later he "really thought this was it" and began to think of being reunited with an infant son who died of meningitis nearly 25 years ago.

"Then I realized I had to get Arnie back," he said. "That kind of brought me back to reality."

"I knew I may have to get the plane back to the airport," Knoettgen, who had never taken off or landed, told the Dispatch. "I thought I had a chance to put it down if someone could talk me through it."

Spicer kept giving instructions on the flight back to the airport, about three miles away. He also radioed his wife, Pam, who was at the airport, to call for an ambulance.

"He told me he had been shot in the head, but he kept sending instructions," she said. "So I knew it must not have been as bad as it sounded."

As they neared the airport, Spicer tightened his shoulder harness to make sure he didn't slump forward should he pass out.

"I knew if I collapsed on the yoke, Arnie would have no chance of getting the plane down," he said.

The plane came in low and both men recall the landing as a pretty good one. Police, an ambulance and firetrucks were waiting on the runway. After only about 2½ hours at the Clay County Medical Center, Spicer was back home.

"It just wasn't my time," he said.

Michael Michaud, 28, of Clay Center, was arrested Saturday morning. He is in the Clay County Jail on $1 million bond awaiting a preliminary hearing May 18.

Michaud is charged with two counts of attempted murder, criminal discharge of a weapon at an occupied vehicle resulting in bodily harm, criminal possession of a firearm and attempting to elude an officer. The sheriff's office said drug charges are also pending against him in an unrelated case.