Update: Man accused of fleeing Lexington police, hitting cruiser with stolen car arrested

After some area schools went on heightened alert, Lexington police on Thursday afternoon arrested a suspect accused of escaping detainment and hitting a cruiser with a stolen vehicle Thursday morning.

According to Lt. Daniel Burnett with the police department, the incident started Thursday morning when police were called to the Kroger on Bryan Station Road to recover a stolen vehicle, Burnett said. Police were attempting to detain the suspect, Christian Pierce, when he fled while partially handcuffed and struck a police cruiser during his escape, Burnett said.

Pierce had a handcuff on one arm, Burnett said.

No officers were injured and the vehicle suffered minor damage, according to Burnett.

Police later found the stolen vehicle in the 800 block of Limestone, said Burnett.

On Thursday afternoon, Pierce was arrested, said police spokeswoman Hannah Sloan.

Prior to his arrest, the suspect was seen the downtown area, Sloan said. As a precaution, schools in the area were notified since he was considered to be dangerous.

Both Sayre School and Transylvania University were under heightened security protocol on Thursday afternoon after police identified Pierce and said he had last been seen downtown.

Sayre was placed on lockdown for about 20 minutes after police notified officials of an incident in the area, school officials said. The school was given the all-clear and continued with its normal dismissal procedure.

Transylvania was given a shelter-in-place order, asking people to not move between buildings, which was lifted just before 4:30 p.m., according to a Transylvania spokesperson.

Fayette County Schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Thursday evening that students at Arlington Elementary and Lexington Traditional Middle schools were on heightened alerts at different points during the day as Lexington police advised. Heightened alert means students were kept inside.

Reporters Valarie Honeycutt Spears, Monica Kast and Andrew Henderson contributed to this story.

This is a developing story and may be updated.